Friday, June 19, 2009

Once again ... Chicken Tamale Casserole


This one was on my list to try before Mel beat me to it this month. I'm going to go ahead and review it because I found the Cooking Light reviews of it (and there were many) to be either they loved it or it was too sweet. In order to avoid a too sweet casserole I decided on a corn bread mix that had the lowest sugar listed. In my case it was a cheap box of Jiffy that won out. Also, I decided not to use store bought enchilada sauce because sometimes they have ways of sneaking in sugar or high fructose corn syrup to these things and I suspected this maybe contributed to the sweetness, so I made my own on the stovetop (recipe follows).

I really liked this one and I'm not a fan of casseroles. I didn't find it too sweet at all and I would definitely make it again if I had some rotisserie chicken or some other leftover meat to use up. Whoever had the idea to mix in creamed corn with the cornbread mix was genius ... it really did taste tamale like.

So, here it is ... my homemade red enchilada sauce recipe. I would love for someone to try it out sometime and tell me how it compares to the store brands.

4-5 t. chili powder
2 t. salt
1/2 t. cumin
2 garlic cloves, peeled but whole
3 1/2 c. water
2 cans tomato paste
dash of tobasco sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes until thickened. Remove garlic cloves before using.

2 comments:

Mel said...

That enchilada sauce looks great! I agree about the HFCS, and I can't wait to try out your recipe...although honestly it might take a while :)

Michelle said...

This is on my list too - and I'll definetly use your enchilada sauce recipe.