
Since it is the holidays, I decide to make enchiladas with green and red sauce. However, I only had a can of green sauce in the pantry. I figured I had to have the ingredients to whip up some red sauce so I took to the internet to do some research.
With a can of tomato sauce in one hand and my phone in another, I was surprised to find out that one of the most authentic sauce recipes didn’t contain any tomato sauce at all. Instead, the base of the sauce is chicken stock with a bit of tomato paste. This sauce couldn’t have come together any easier.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons flour (whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and gluten-free flour blends all work!)
- 1 tablespoon ground chili powder (scale back if you’re sensitive to spice or using particularly spicy chili powder)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt, to taste
- Pinch of cinnamon (optional but recommended)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Measure the flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt and optional cinnamon into a small bowl and place it near the stove. along with your tomato paste and broth.
- In a medium-sized pot, warm the oil until it’s it’s hot enough that a light sprinkle of the flour/spice mixture sizzles on contact. This might take a couple of minutes, so be patient and don’t step away from the stove!
- Once it’s ready, pour in the flour and spice mixture. While whisking constantly, cook until fragrant and slightly deepened in color, about 1 minute. Whisk the tomato paste into the mixture, then slowly pour in the broth while whisking constantly to remove any lumps.
- Raise heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, whisking often, for about 5 to 7 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a bit and a spoon encounters some resistance as you stir it.
- Remove from heat, then whisk in the vinegar and season to taste with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Add more salt, if necessary. I actually added just a tad more tomato paste when I added the vinegar for a bit more of that tomato flavor.