Enchilada Sauce (no tomatoes)

Enchilada comes from the verb enchilar (= "to add chile pepper to"). Enchilada literally means "seasoned with chiles". The traditional enchilada sauce is just that-dried red chile peppers soaked and ground into a sauce with other seasonings. However, red enchilada sauce may also be tomato-based with red chiles, while green enchilada sauce is usually made of tomatillos and green chiles. Mole may also be used as enchilada sauce.

Other Enchilada Sauce Recipes:

Red Enchilada Sauce
Easy Red Enchilada Sauce (Emeril Lagasse)
Green Enchilada Sauce

Enchilada Sauce - no tomatoes

3 Ancho chiles
3 Pasilla chiles
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, minced
4 tbsp lard or margarine (lard is better for the taste buds)
4 tbsp flour
3 cup chicken or beef stock (use chicken for cheese or chicken enchiladas, beef for beef enchiladas)
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1/2 tsp cumin

Place the chiles on a cookie sheet, and roast in a 350 degree oven until slightly toasted (when you can smell them, they're done). Remove from the oven, and slit open. Remove the seeds and veins, then cover the chiles with boiling water. Allow to sit for about 30 minutes.

Remove the chiles from the water (reserve water), and scrape the pulp from the chiles. Discard the skins (which can give the mixture a bitter flavor.)
Return the chile pulp to the soaking water and reserve.

Saute the garlic and onion in the lard until very soft but not browned. Stir in the flour, and the stock. Stir until thickened, then add the chile pulp mixture. Add the spices, and simmer until thickened.

Place the mixture in a blender, and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt. If you want a hotter mixture, add cayenne to taste.