Celebrate Día de los Muertos With These Classic Enfrijoladas

Día de los Muertos is a holiday that's widely misunderstood, its symbols often appropriated. The colorful flowers, paper cutouts, and skeleton masks are indeed beautiful, but there’s a lot more to the celebration than sugar skulls. And, because Mexico is a vast and varied country with a rich history and culture, there isn’t just one typical Día de los Muertos food. Rather, it’s important for each family to choose dishes that were special to the deceased ancestors whom they're honoring on this day.

If you’d like to celebrate Día de los Muertos by preparing a traditional Mexican recipe, and do so respectfully, then why not try enfrijoladas this year? Originally from Oaxaca, enfrijoladas can be traced to pre-Columbian times and are one of the most popular versions of enchiladas in the country.

To make them, we dip Olé corn tortillas in a bean-and-chili-pepper purée that’s slightly thinned with broth, then fill the tortillas with queso fresco mixed with chopped onion and quickly heat them in a hot oven. To finish, we top them off with more of the cheese-and-onion mixture and plenty of fresh cilantro. That’s it. Like many of the best recipes, it’s so simple and yet so good.

Of course, for the best finished product, we always start with the best ingredients. And when it comes to tortillas, we don’t mess around. For the highest-quality traditional tortillas, we always turn to Olé Mexican Foods. Also the makers of La Banderita tortillas, Olé Mexican Foods is a business that relies on the customs of the past along with innovative baking technologies to create fresh, shelf-stable tortillas. Naturally gluten-free and cholesterol-free, these tender tortillas have the perfect corn flavor we look for and will bring a wholesome and authentic eating experience to your table.

One of the best things about enfrijoladas is that it's an endlessly adaptable dish. Though it’s typically made with black beans, pintos work great, too; even leftover refried beans can be used. You can thin them down with broth, or the liquid from cooking beans, or even water. They can be flavored with ancho chilies or, for a shortcut, chipotles in adobo or chipotle powder, to give them a smoky, spicy flavor. You can keep them vegetarian, as we did here, or add a meat filling, like crumbled chorizo or shredded chicken. The tortillas can be folded in half, folded in quarters, or rolled up. The only rule? They've got to be eaten right away, or otherwise they'll get mushy.

So this Día de los Muertos, honor the holiday with this traditional Mexican recipe, made with high-quality Olé corn tortillas.

Enfrijoladas

Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Yield: Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
2 dried ancho chilies, stems removed
10 ounces Olé queso fresco
1 small white onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 (16-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
3 cloves garlic
12 (6-inch) La Banderita White Corn Tortillas
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C).

2. In a small saucepan over high heat, bring vegetable or chicken broth to a boil. Alternatively, microwave broth on high for 1 minute. Place dried ancho chilies in a Mason jar or other heatproof container and pour hot broth over to submerge. Soak until softened, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, combine queso fresco and onion in a medium bowl. Set aside.

4. Place soaked ancho chilies and broth, drained black beans, salt, and garlic in a blender or food processor. Purée until a smooth sauce forms. Taste and season with additional salt if necessary.

5. Transfer bean mixture to a shallow bowl. Using tongs, dip a tortilla in the bean mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl. Transfer tortilla to a plate. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas.

6. Reserve 1 cup of cheese-onion mixture and set aside. Use remaining cheese-onion mixture to fill the tortillas: Sprinkle cheese-onion mixture over half of a tortilla, fold tortilla over, and transfer to a 9- by 13-inch baking pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas, overlapping them slightly in the baking pan.

7. Drizzle any remaining bean mixture from the bowl over the tortillas in the baking pan. Move baking pan to oven and bake until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with reserved cheese-onion mixture and chopped cilantro and serve immediately.

Notes:
In a pinch, water may be used instead of broth. If you like, you can replace the ancho chilies with 2 chipotle peppers in adobo plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce, or just 1 teaspoon chipotle powder. Do not soak the chipotles or chipotle powder; skip to step 3 instead.