Guatemalan Cuisine: La Enchilada
If tostadas had a kingdom, La Enchilada would be the queen of the tostadas. Good, you say, I’m glad to know, but can you tell me what the hell is a tostada or enchilada. Well, I’m glad you asked.
Tostadas is the common name for toasted tortillas. There are many way to arrive from a tortilla to a tostada. The most common approach is you fry your tortilla until it is toasted. Other approach is the tortilla loses all of its moisture while being near the heat of the comal. The last method and the least often used is you let your tortillas lose their moisture by just being in very dry environment. So now that you have your tostada or the base you turn it into a Guatemalan tostadas by adding other ingredients like Guacamol (avocado sauce), salsa de tomate (tomato sauce), frijoles colados (liquified black beans), and then you sprinkle dried Guatemala cheese (sort of parmesan cheese) and fresh parsley flakes.
Now to make an Enchilada, you start with a tostada as a base, you add a romaine lettuce leaf, a mixture of pickled beets and vegetables, the mixture that goes inside chiles rellenos (in other words, minced green beans, carrots, and meat), tomato sauce, chili sauce, sprinkle dried Guatemalan cheese (it’s like panela cheese), and you top the whole thing with slice onions and hard-boiled-egg slice (not included in the picture above). I believe Jerry has a picture of Enchiladas with the slice of egg on top.
The word Enchilada means something that has been soaked with hot sauce or has been made spicy hot. Well, that’s where Mexican enchiladas take their name from. But not Guatemalan Enchiladas which are, regardless of the name, not spicy hot, unless you add chili sauce.
Bon appetite!
P.S. I think, right about now, we should start hiding the scale (again!).
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April 15th, 2008
Enchiladas!!! Yes, it is funny they’re called that considering they’re not spicy. I am not into spicy food per se, I have been called a “weenie” by fellow Latinamericans who can scarf down whole jalape~nos, but you know, whatever. So, Mr. Protector of Crocodiles,
mmmm, how about some atol? Heehee. Side note over. Let me think though, I was reprimanded as a kid when I said atol instead of atole and guacamol instead of guacamole…actually, I have been “corrected” at Guatemalan Restaurants, which is, I think, more than ironic. Okay, back to the topic at hand. Here, the word “enchilada” is a way of saying “the whole deal.” As in, “does that package include an airplane ticket, rental car, hotel…you know, the whole enchilada?” Okay, the end. 
April 15th, 2008
Queso fresco (fresh cheese like fetta cheese) goes better as topping for the “enchilada”.
You know that the original name was “enchilada quezalteca” because they are suppose to have originated from Quezaltenango (common name Xela) in the guatemalan highlands.
April 15th, 2008
This is how it looks at Rinconcito, a Guatemalan resturant in Los Angeles! que rico!
April 15th, 2008
That is different that the enchiladas here in Mexico. Here the tortilla is filled and then rolled up and cheese and cream put on top. They use either a verde sauce or a rojo sauce depending on where you get them. I LOVE chicken enchiladas here.
April 15th, 2008
Very interesting! No self-respecting Texan would call call these Enchiladas! Enchiladas, Tex-Mex style, are a staple in my world, but they are nothing like this. Usually corn tortillas, dipped in a red chili sauce with either cheese and onions or ground beef rolled in the tortillas and topped with red sauce and grated cheese. There are a million variations of this, but this is the basic idea. The Guatemalan enchiladas are really pretty, but I can’t imagine beets on my enchiladas!
April 15th, 2008
Mmmm….can’t say I’m a fan of beets and the whole egg thing, but I have to say that tostadas are FANTASTIC! Just keep it simple and give me aguacate on a tostada with some chile sauce and frijoles! Oh man, my mouth is watering again!
April 15th, 2008
Mmmmmmm, when I was a teenager, at my parent´s house, I ate 12 enchiladas made by my mother, he he.
April 15th, 2008
Luis, Twelve enchiladas at one sitting is insane… were you sick afterwards?
April 15th, 2008
Naaaaaaah. I was young. If I do that now…well, I just cannot even thik of it. Snif.
April 15th, 2008
LOL!!!! Last year while in Antigua, my cousin took me to La Posada de Don Rodrigo, and she told me they make the best enchiladas…Well I said i will have two and they all stared at me…(you see, I am guatemalan, but was raised in Los Angeles, so I was used to Mexican Enchiladas, and completely forgot what Enchiladas where in Guate.) Imagine my surprise and embarrassment. But those enchiladas brought me really good childhood memories.
April 16th, 2008
A good guatemalan would eat at least 3 enchiladas in one sitting. My wife makes them all the time and they taste better when all the ingredients are one day old. My mom is telling me that because the enchiladas were originally created in the guatemalan highlands powdered chili used to be added as topping. In some towns in the highlands even coffee is sprinkled with powdered chili besides sugar.
Note to Jerry T: No self-respecting Guatemalan would call anything else Enchiladas!
April 16th, 2008
My sister in law and I we’re working in a Mexican-Guatemalan:Guatemalan-Mexican Dictionary cuisine sort of, to clarify the different terms and dishes that we share with our Mexican cousins, cos’ Guate enchiladas are waaaay to different from the Mexi ones. Anyways, you have to be extremely skillful to eat one enchilada without making a mess and breaking the tostadas. ya me dio hambre.
April 16th, 2008
…delightful and mouth-watering I’m sure!
April 16th, 2008
Ale: That dictionary is a must have. Here’s why. When I was little I was offered a quesadilla and I was excited. “Yay!” my kid mind thought, “quesadilla con cafe.” The lady, my mom’s friend, gave me a tortilla with melted cheese inside. I looked at her with puppy eyes and then I looked at the tortilla. “Don’t worry mija,” she said, “if you want more, let me know.” Huh?
That was one of the first times I realized I was very far away from Guatemala. Disclaimer: This does not mean that I do not like Mexican food, I do (a lot), I am just sharing a sad (but true) story in relation to food. End of disclaimer.
April 16th, 2008
mmmmmm… quesadilla (the Guate kind) mmmmmmmm.
April 17th, 2008
WOW! Yum!
April 17th, 2008
Ale,
Let me know when you publish that Mexican-Guatemalan:Guatemalan-Mexican cuisine dictionary. I’ll be your first customer.
That sounds like a great idea. You can then move on to a Guatemalan-Salvadorean:Salvadorean-Guatemalan cuisine dictionary and on and on and on…until you pair Guatamalan cuisine with all of latin american countries. YA VAS!
Does anybody remember MIXTAS? This is my version of a mixta:
A regular Guatemalan tortilla with guacamol and a hot dog cut in half. Does this sound correct?
April 17th, 2008
This is my version of the Mixta: One bottle of Moza (any bock beer would do I guess), One bottle of a Lager (Gallo if you must). Pour on glasses on equal quantities. Enjoy. It’s a sharing kind of meal… I mean drink
Mario, your version goes well with mine as boquitas ah… and I might add some mustard for that extra German taste and probably Mayo, just because.
April 21st, 2008
[...] bun. Simple and great tasting. There are other kind of mixtas (which really just means mixed) like beers, like ceviches, et-cetera. You get the point, [...]
June 12th, 2008
[...] Guatemalan tostadas are much simpler, yet very tasteful. The exception to simple tostadas is the Enchilada; boy that’s a handful and they should teach in school how to eat one without getting all [...]