ENCHILADA SAUCE

So the other night we were making an enchilada recipe from Vegetariana and decided at the last minute that we wanted enchilada sauce instead of the fresh tomatoes mixed with cilantro that the recipe called for. I'm sure it would have been fine but we were craving the gooey yummy-ness that comes from enchilada sauce. Of course we didn't have any pre-made enchilada sauce in the house so we made our own. And I'm glad we did. It was so easy and delicious that we'll never go back to the canned stuff. So here is our take on enchilada sauce:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 cup broth (any kind you have)
salt & pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil is small skillet. Saute minced garlic for about 1 minute or until fragrant.

2. Add tomato sauce and paste. Once warmed through, add the chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper and cayenne pepper.

3. Simmer for a few minutes. Check your consistency. If you like it the way it is, then leave out the broth, if you prefer a thinner sauce, then add broth until you have reached the desired thickness.

4. Taste the sauce and adjust any of the seasonings to your liking.

5. Pour over enchiladas and bake!

Notes:

We don't really keep broth in the house so we ended up using the broth from the beans I had been re-hydrating and it was great. You can also just use water. You can also really use any tomato sauce you like, the spices are so powerful that it's just a base.

**image via The Chubby Vegetarian**