Enchiladas Mineras

Ingredients

• 12 corn tortillas
• 10 guajillo chiles
• 2 ancho chiles
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 white onion
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp fine sea salt
• 300ml water
• 150ml lard or vegetable oil, for frying
• 300g queso ranchero or queso fresco, crumbled
• 1 white onion, finely diced
• 400g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
• 300g carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
• 2 tbsp lard, for the vegetables
• 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano, for the vegetables
• 4 bone-in chicken thighs
• 1 tsp salt, for the chicken
• 1/2 iceberg lettuce, finely shredded
• 8 pickled jalapeños, sliced
• 150ml Mexican crema

Before you cook

• Stem the guajillo and ancho chiles, tear them open and shake out the seeds.
• Peel the potatoes and carrots and cut them into neat 1cm dice.
• Finely dice the white onion and crumble the cheese, then mix half the onion into the cheese.
• Shred the lettuce very finely and slice the pickled jalapeños.
• Season the chicken thighs on both sides with a teaspoon of salt.

Steps

1. Toast the guajillo and ancho chiles in a dry pan over medium heat for fifteen seconds a side, pressing them flat, until they smell sweet.
2. Cover the chiles with hot water and soak them for twenty minutes.
3. Blend the drained chiles with the garlic, half onion, cumin, oregano, cloves, salt and 300ml of fresh water until completely smooth.
4. Push the sauce through a fine sieve into a wide shallow bowl and throw away the skins. It should be the thickness of single cream.
5. Heat two tablespoons of lard in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the chicken thighs skin side down for eight minutes, until deeply browned.
6. Turn the thighs, lower the heat and cook them for another twelve minutes, until cooked through, then set them aside somewhere warm.
7. Wipe the pan, add two tablespoons of lard and fry the diced potatoes and carrots over medium heat for fifteen minutes, tossing regularly, until tender and browned at the corners.
8. Season the vegetables with salt and the teaspoon of oregano, then tip them into a bowl.
9. Pour 150ml of lard into a clean frying pan and heat it over medium-high heat until a drop of the chile sauce sizzles at once.
10. Dip a tortilla into the bowl of guajillo sauce, coating both sides completely, and let the excess drip off.
11. Lay the coated tortilla straight into the hot fat and fry it for about twenty seconds a side, until it darkens and firms up but stays flexible.
12. Lift the tortilla onto a plate lined with kitchen paper and repeat with the rest, stacking them as you go.
13. Put a spoonful of the cheese and onion mixture down the middle of each tortilla and fold it into a loose triangle or roll it up.
14. Arrange three enchiladas on each plate and spoon the hot potatoes and carrots over and around them.
15. Set a chicken thigh alongside each portion.
16. Scatter over the remaining crumbled cheese, the reserved diced onion, the shredded lettuce and the pickled jalapeños.
17. Finish with a zigzag of crema and serve at once, before the enchiladas cool.