Huitlacoche, or corn smut is the mushroom (fungus) that grows on corn (or maize). Some people think it's gross because it's black, but it's really delicious. It tastes like a combination of mushroom and corn. Here is the whole Wikipedia article on corn smut (link).
There are two steps in making the enchiladas. The first is the huitlacoche filling.
Go to Kensington Market and get a can of huitlacoche at Perola's.
You will also need onion, garlic, serrano chiles, corn oil and salt. The challenge here is actually figuring out the amounts, since I just chopped the ingredients and made the filling without measuring. I used about 3/4 of an onion, 4 cloves of garlic and 3 chiles.
Place the onion, garlic and serrano chiles in the food processor and chop.
Saute the onion+garlic+chile combination with a pinch of salt on medium heat and about 2 teaspoons of oil.
When the onion is brown, add the contents of the can of huitlacoche and saute for about 10 minutes at reduced heat. The huitlacoche is black, do not be turned off by that.
Do not add more salt since the canned huitlacoche is usually already salted.
Set aside and proceed to make the sauce.
The ingredients for the green sauce are:
Tomatillos, onion, garlic, cilantro, serrano chile and the "secret" ingredient, a teaspoon of Knorr vegetable broth. Again I don't have specific amounts, I just calculated according to what I had.
Chop all the ingredients in the food processor until smooth. This is a really good green salsa and you can keep some of it for later use on quesadillas or tacos.
For the enchiladas you need to cook the salsa, I used about 2 teaspoons of corn oil and cooked it in a pot simmering for about 12 minutes.
To make enchiladas, the tortillas have to be fried. I calculated 3 enchiladas per person, so I fried 6 tortillas. This has to be done at the last minute because you don't want the tortillas to be cold and soggy when your guests eat.
To serve the enchiladas, just after frying the tortilla, fill each one with some hot huitlacoche filling, fold them and cover them in sauce. Serve with sour cream on top. I also served a side of sliced avocado.
Here's a link to my previous enchilada recipe, another vegetarian meal that I prepared back in May, corn enchiladas.
