The Best Nicaraguan Enchiladas Recipe

For those who don’t know Nicaraguan gastronomy, you should know enchiladas are a traditional dish here. They’re like burgers to Americans, tacos to Mexicans, and pizza to Italians.

It’s a comfort food here and can be found for sale on nearly every street corner. Unlike the Mexican variety, Nicaraguan enchiladas are made by stuffing tortillas with rice and meat, then frying the battered tortilla in oil.

When made right, this dish is crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and absolutely delicious. To give it the final kick it needs, it’s eaten with shredded cabbage soaked with vinegar. So good!

There are a few ways to cook enchiladas in Nicaragua, but what I’m going to show you is the recipe that my mom inherited from her mom and so on. So yes, I’m giving you our secret family recipe for enchiladas.

You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 pound of beef (heart, shank, brisket, or shoulder chuck)
• 2 cups uncooked white rice
• 1 medium onion
• 1 green pepper
• 1 tomato
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 ½ cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of mustard
• 1 tablespoon of ketchup
• 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 liter of oil for frying
• 3 cups white flour
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1 pinch of garlic powder
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of black pepper
• 10 cooked corn tortillas

Once you have all the ingredients, you’re ready to start cooking. Let me tell you though, this will take quite some time to cook since there are a few lengthy steps. However, the overall process is simple and totally worth it.

1. Cook the Meat

Wash the meat with water to get off any blood or other contaminants. Then, add it to an appropriately-sized pot and cover it with water. Add the salt, garlic clove, and a small handful of chopped onions to the pot.

Turn to high heat until a boil is reached. Then, lower the heat and continue to boil the meat until tender.

2. Cook the Rice

While the meat is boiling, you can get started on the rice. In a large pot, add the rice, a dash of salt, and water as directed on the package. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Then, cover the pot, turn down the heat, and allow it to simmer for 10 – 15 minutes. Try not to check on it too often. Checking it causes cool air to rush in and can slow the cooking process.

Alternatively, you can toss everything in a rice cooker, push a button, and forget about it until you need it.

If the meat is boiled at this point, take it out of the pot and cut it into a few smaller pieces to get it to cool down faster. You need the rice to cool completely before moving onto the next step, so this is a good time to chop the remaining onion, green pepper, and tomato.

Just make sure you save the beef broth as you might need it for the next step!

3. Making the Rice/Meat Mixture

Once the meat is cool enough to touch, use your hands or a couple of forks to shred it into small strips. You can shred them as large or small as you like, but generally smaller is better since they’re being stuffed into the tortillas.

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat up 2 tablespoons of the oil. Saute the onions and green pepper until fragrant. Then, add the tomato. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until reduced to a chunky sauce.

Add the mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. The sauce should be runny without being watery. If it gets too thick, add some of the broth to thin it without compromising flavor.

Mix the meat in the sauce, thoroughly coating it. Allow them to cook together for a few minutes to really infuse the meat with that flavor.

Then, add the meat mixture to the cooled rice, stirring thoroughly.

4. Prepare the Batter

Next, you’re going to get the batter ready.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, water, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, egg, and a pinch of salt and pepper. You should end up with an orange-colored batter with a similar consistency to pancake batter.

5. Fry the Enchiladas

Add the rest of the oil to a deep pan and turn the heat to medium-high.

As it heats, prepare the enchiladas to be fried. This part in particular will take some work to get right, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you have a few fall apart on you the first couple times you do this.

Add a few generous spoonfuls of the meat and rice mixture to one of the corn tortillas. Make sure you leave enough space as you seal the edges shut.

To close the tortilla, you can dip the edges in some of the batter and get them to stick. If that doesn’t work, you may need to use something like kabob sticks to keep the edges together.

(Just make sure you know how many sticks you use and where they all are or someone is going to get an unpleasant surprise later!)

Once the edges are sealed, cover the whole enchilada with the batter and carefully add it to the hot oil.

Cook until both sides are crispy, flipping over the enchilada at least once during the cooking process. You can do as many of these at a time as space allows.

6. Serve!

Now all that’s left is to put those bad boys on some plates and serve them to yourself and whoever else is eating with you.

As previously mentioned, these taste best when served with shredded cabbage. To make your own, shred about half of a head of cabbage and a carrot into thin strips. Toss this with a teaspoon of vinegar and pile it on top of your Nicaraguan enchiladas.

There you have it! If you have any questions, please comment below and I’ll answer them as soon as possible. If you’ve tried this recipe, let me know. I’d love to hear about it.

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