Vegan Enchiladas Rojas, soft tortillas dipped in a chilli and tomato sauce with a meaty pulled king oyster mushroom filling. Topped with vegan cheese and crispy iceberg lettuce.
Mexican Dried Chillies
The Guajillo and Ancho chillies give the dish a wonderful fruity chilli flavour with a subtle heat. We like a bit of extra heat so we like adding arbol chillies to give it that extra kick. These can be omitted for a less spicy, but equally as tasty sauce to go with the enchiladas.
These chillies can be found online in specialist Mexican stores. Ancho chillies can even be found in some larger supermarkets.
Pulled King Oyster Mushrooms
The king oyster mushrooms are the star of the dish and perfectly mimic the texture of the pulled meat. Depending on where in the world you are they could be called king trumpet or eryngii mushrooms. Until quite recently, these have been quite hard to find, only really being widely available to us in our local Asian market. However, they are now widely available in Tesco locally which is a major supermarket in the UK.
If you can’t find these mushrooms then you could still make the dish with other mushrooms or a shredded vegan meat alternative. If using other mushrooms I would suggest using portobello mushrooms. Cooking them and pressing them as I do in the Vegan Bulgogi recipe. Slicing them into 1cm strips rather than the 2cm strips stated in the recipe. This would get you closest to the texture of the king oyster mushrooms.
Vegan Enchiladas Rojas
Equipment
- Blender
- Frying pan large enough to heat the wheat tortillas.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 3 guajillo chillies
- 2 ancho chillies
- 2 arbol chillies* more or less to taste
- ½ white onion
- 1 large tomato
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
Filling
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 300 g king oyster mushrooms
- ½ white onion sliced
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
Assembly
- 4 – 6 fresh corn or wheat tortillas
- 100 g vegan white cheese or vegan feta
- Iceberg lettuce
- Coriander chopped
Instructions
Sauce
- Remove the stems and the seeds from the guajillo, ancho and arbol chillies. Roughly cut them into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Pour over boiling water until all the chillies are submerged then cover the bowl. Let the chillies fully soften for at least 15 minutes.
- Heat a dry large frying pan over high heat. This will be used to char the onion, tomato and garlic. A sheet of kitchen foil can be placed in the pan to stop the pan from getting dirty.
- Cut the ½ onion into quarters, leave the tomato whole and leave the skin on the garlic cloves. Place them all in the pan and let them char on all sides turning regularly. The garlic will be done the quickest. Once lightly charred on both sides remove the garlic from the pan and let cool before peeling the skin off them. Turn the tomato and onion regularly, removing them once they are lightly charred.
- Once the onion and tomato are done and the garlic has been peeled, add them to a blender along with the Mexican oregano, salt and cracked black pepper.
- Once the chillies are soft remove them from the water and add them to the blender along with ¼ cup of the water the chillies were softening in.
- Blend the chilli mixture until smooth then add to a large pot. Bring the pot to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook until the sauce is a deep red colour and thickened nicely. This will take around 15 minutes.
Filling
- While the sauce is simmering make the filling for the Enchiladas.
- Prepare the king oyster mushrooms. Shred them by pressing a fork into the thick stem of the mushrooms and running it down the side. Pull apart the created shreds of mushroom. The caps can be sliced to the same thickness as the shreds.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot add the mushroom shreds. Cook, stirring frequently until the mushrooms are starting to go golden around the edges, around 4 minutes.
- Add the sliced onion and bell pepper and continue to cook until they are soft and the mushrooms are golden around the edges, around 6 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium before adding the smoked paprika, salt and cracked black pepper. Stir to coat everything in the smoked paprika and cook for 1 minute watching not to burn.
- Turn off the heat and leave until the sauce is ready.
Assembly
- Once the sauce is a deep red colour and thickened slightly it’s time to assemble the Enchiladas. The tortilla will be dipped in the sauce before being fried so the sauce needs to be thin enough to coat the tortillas. If it’s too thick a small amount of water can be added.
- To prepare the tortillas heat a frying pan big enough to fit a whole tortilla in over medium heat. Once hot, working relatively fast, begin by dipping one tortilla into the sauce and quickly coating both sides. Do this fast so the tortilla doesn’t get too soggy, as they can fall apart.
- Once coated let any excess sauce drain off then quickly add the tortilla to the heated frying pan. Let them toast on each side for 30 seconds to heat through. Remove from the pan and place on a plate or board.
- While the tortilla is still hot add some of the mushroom filling to the centre then roll into the classic cylinder shape. Once rolled transfer to the serving plate.
- Repeat the dipping, frying and filling steps for each of the tortillas. The pan might need to be wiped between each tortilla so any sauce remaining in the pan doesn't burn.
- To serve, any remaining sauce can be drizzled over the top of the enchiladas before sprinkling over the vegan white cheese, chopped coriander and a generous portion of iceberg lettuce.
