Mole Poblano Enchilada Casserole

This recipe is pantry velcro. I used up all the ends of stuff in my fridge. could just as easily be made with enchilada sauce. But why would you do that? Take a weekend; make the mole.

Ingredients

• 2 C. Mole Poblano. I use this recipe, with a few caveats, see below*.
• 1 C. brown rice, cooked*
• 1 C. chickpeas.
• 1 jalapeno finely diced
• 1/2 large onion finely diced
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 6 oz  (or so) Crimini mushrooms, sliced.
• 1 zucchini seeded and diced.
• 1/2 C. salsa
• 24 (approx.) yellow corn tortillas.
• Salt and pepper
• seasoning for veggies or chickpeas as needed (chili powder, a little cumin. Use what you like.)*

Directions

1. Warm up rice and chickpeas in a dry non-stick skillet. Season if needed Set aside.
2. Saute onions, garlic and jalapeno until translucent
3. Add mushrooms to onion mixture, saute until mushrooms start to brown.
4. Add zucchini, saute until zucchini starts to brown.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Additional spices if using.
6. Add 1/2 cup salsa, cook until liquid has reduced. Set aside.
7. Fry tortillas in a dry cast iron skillet.
8. Warm mole or enchilada sauce in a pan large enough to turn the tortillas in the sauce
9. Spray square dish with cooking spray. (I used a 6″ springform because I was being fancy)
10. Turn tortillas in enchilada sauce and line the bottom of the pan. Let the tortillas come up the sides (like making crust)
11. Spread half the rice mixture on top of tortillas
12. Turn tortillas in sauce and make another layer on top of rice. Doesn’t have to be perfectly covered.
13. Layer half of veggies on top of tortillas.
14. Repeat tortilla layer, rice layer, tortilla layer, veggie layer.
15. Finish with tortilla layer. Cover with any remaining sauce.
16. Cover with tinfoil Bake at 375 for 20 minutes*
17. Uncover and Bake 15 more minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.
18. Top with avocado, Fresh Herb Salsa or if you’re being non-vegan decadent, a little cojita cheese or sour cream.

Cooks Notes:

I made this up, based on a lot of crappy enchilada casserole I ate as a kid. This really was pantry velcro. I had some left over dirty rice and chick peas in my fridge. Both were already lightly seasoned, and mole is a strong flavor on it’s own. I didn’t add a lot to the rice or the vegetables. If I was using enchilada sauce instead o the mole, I would have added more chili powder and cumin to the rice and veggie layers. You could use anything in the veggie layers: diced sweet potatoes, corn and black beans, diced red or green pepper. What you like or what you’ve got will be tasty.

I cooked my enchiladas uncovered because I don’t like them too squishy and I like the top to get a little crunchy. They got a little over done (They look more over done than they are, because mole is a darker sauce to start with). If I did this again I’d cover them for part of the time, which is what I wrote in the recipe.

Modifications to the mole poblano recipe: This recipe is made with turkey and calls for turkey or chicken stock. I used vegetable stock (and skipped the turkey breast part of course.)  I use a bar of real Mexican chocolate. You could use dark cocoa powder in place of the Mexican chocolate with probably negligible differences in flavor. This recipe also calls for 4 Tbps. of sugar. I’ve never put that much in my mole. The chopped Mexican chocolate has some sugar. In this last batch I added maybe a tablespoon of additional sugar. so taste before you just dump sugar in your sauce, and sweeten to taste.