Thai Chicken Enchiladas

I know that many people think Pinterest is useless and is just a way to waste time and think about all the crafts and trips and recipes you won't ever try.  I agree it is the central hub for procrastination nation; however, I truly think it is a wonderful tool for people to try new things, and change old habits for the better (pending user motivation).  I really try to only add pins to my boards that I really want to try, and the following recipe is the perfect example of a glorious Pinterest find.

Can't decide if you are in the mood for Thai food or in the mood for Mexican?  Have both!!!!  This recipe from How Sweet it Is was a delicious find and is definitely a must try.  My husband took one bite, his eyes opened wide (along with his stomach) and a look of pure delight spread across his face.  Don't get me wrong, he generally enjoys my cooking, but this was probably one of the best reactions to a meal ever and I knew this was a recipe to stash away with "those which we are willing to eat again" recipes.  I am more of a recipe scouring, experimental cook than a stick to the same menu, repeat old recipes cook, so it says something that I already am excited to make this again.

If you never try anything else I put on my blog, at least give these a try because they are scrump-didilly-umptious!

Thai Chicken Enchiladas
Yields: 8-9 enchiladas (Serves about 4)

Ingredients:

• 8 flour tortillas
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked.  - I boiled them for 15 minutes (or until cooked through) and then shredded as soon as I took them out of the water while still hot
• 1T canola oil - or whatever oil you prefer
•  1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• about 1/3C carrots, shredded - I found it easiest to chop fine in a small food processor
• about 1/2C cabbage, shredded - you could either chop in small food processor or slice in thin pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 t salt
• Pepper to taste
• 4 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/3 C chopped peanuts + whole peanuts for garnish - again, easiest to do this in a small food processor
• 1/4 fresh cilantro - food processor style
• 1 can coconut milk, divided into 3/4C and whatever is leftover
• 1/3C Sweet chili sauce + about another 1/2C - This can be found in the Asian section of the grocery store where you find the water chestnuts, rice noodles, soy sauce, etc.

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. When prepping ingredients, place onion, carrots, cabbage, garlic, and salt in one bowl.  Place green onions, pepper, cilantro, and peanuts in another bowl.
3. After prepping all ingredients, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
4. Pour onion, carrots, cabbage, garlic and salt into skillet and saute over medium heat until veggies begin to soften, about 7-8 minutes.
5. Add cooked chicken to the skillet along with the pepper, green onion, peanut, cilantro mixture.  Mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes.  At this point, taste your creation and adjust salt as needed.
6. Pour 3/4C of coconut milk and 1/3C sweet chili sauce into the skillet and mix well.  Remove from heat.
7. Grease a 9x13" baking pan
8. Take what is left of your can of coconut milk and pour some chili sauce into the coconut milk can until the level of the milk is close to the top of the can.  Mix well. *Note #1: The chili sauce will sink to the bottom of the can, so make sure you use a spoon that will aid in spooning out all the deliciousness the sweet chili sauce has to offer!  **Note #2: Keep in mind, the original recipe called for more coconut milk for the sauce for the top of the enchiladas, but I did not want to buy more than one can because I am not a fan of excess coconut milk so I used less and it still tasted great!!  Refer to the link above to the original recipe if you are interested in more sauce. 
9. Spoon a small amount of sauce into the bottom of the pan...just enough to dot the bottom of the baking dish (but you don't have enough sauce to cover the bottom of the baking dish)
10. Spoon equal amounts of your chicken mixture into the flour tortillas.  Roll tightly and place in the prepared baking dish.  I find placing the wrapped tortillas seam side down is most effective for keeping everything in place
11. Spoon the remaining coconut milk mixture over the tortillas trying to cover as much of each tortillas as possible 
12. Snack on any leftover mixture, or any mixture that fell out of the sides of your tortillas when placing them in the baking dish  =) - this step is optional
13. Bake for 20 minutes
14. Remove from oven and garnish with additional cilantro and whole peanuts
15. Serve warm and enjoy your Asian Fiesta!!

When serving the enchiladas I tried to spoon some of the warm sauce from the bottom of the pan over the tortillas being served since the sauce is limited and pretty thin.
The enchiladas are filling on their own, but for future Thai Chicken Enchilada meals I may try to make some sort of salsa with an Asian inspired bread for dipping.  Yummy!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try this recipe.  You won't regret it!

Bon Appetit!!