Cottage Cheese and Bean Enchiladas

This is my Indianized version of Enchiladas. Am not sure if it looks or tastes anything like the original, but it sure was a good meal..



I feel terrible when I read recipes that require ingredients that I cannot even pronounce, and most often, cannot source from any store here. I then become the 'Queen of substitution' and just add the next thing that I think would smell / look / taste like what is mentioned in the recipe..
I could call this a rajma-paneer kathi roll, its that Indianized :) but lets stick to Enchiladas for now...

I started with the recipe from Nita Mehta's book on Vegetarian Mexican cooking and then surfed across a few more sites and came up with this



The list of ingredients looks long, but it really isnt, go ahead and give it a try...

What you need

For the wheat tortillas (simply put - chapatis)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup warm water

For the Filling

1 cup rajma / kidney beans (soaked overnight in water and cooked)
1 cup crumbled cottage cheese / paneer
1 tbsp oil
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
1 capsicum chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tomatoes

For the sauce

1 tsp flour / maida
3 tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 cup vegetable broth / water
1/2 cup cheese


For the topping

1/2 cup grated cheese
1 tomato chopped
5-6 low spice chillies
1 capsicum (I used half yellow and half green)
1 onion chopped

(For the topping, just the cheese would do, but I went ahead and added a whole lot more)

What you do with it -

For the tortilla -

Mix together the flour, salt and oil in a bowl
Add water gradually to make a pliable dough
Cover with a moist cloth and keep aside for about half an hour
Divide the dough into 8-10 parts
Roll out each using a little flour into thin chapatis
Heat a tava. Place the rolled dough onto the tava
Cook lightly on both sides
Remove from heat and keep wrapped in a foil

For the filling -

Heat the oil, add chopped garlic and capsicum
Add onions and fry for 2-3 mins
Add the cooked beans, salt, chilli powder and oregano
Add chopped tomatoes and the crumbled paneer and stir till dry

For the sauce -

Puree the tomatoes and grate the cheese
Bring the broth / water to a slow boil
Add the flour and stir well
Slowly add the puree and cheese and then the salt, oregano and sugar
Mix well on low heat till it thickens

Assemble and Bake -

Fry the prepared tortillas for a few seconds. They should not turn brown or crisp
Spread a spoon of sauce on the tortilla
Add the filling in the centre and roll in the sides
Do this with all the tortillas
Grease a oven proof dish and place the tortillas tucked side down
(Ideally a rectangular dish, so the tortillas are placed side by side, but I had only a round one)
Pour the remaining sauce on top and then top with grated cheese, chopped tomatoes, onions and slit chillies
Bake at 180 C for 20-25 mins