Veggie "chicken" Enchilada Casserole

Submitted by Julesong

"My vegetarian friend Matthew loves this casserole that I whipped together one night when he came over for dinner. I use veggie based "Quorn" pseudo-chicken as my preferred meat substitute in many dishes, this one included. The casserole is quite tasty, enjoyed by vegetarians and carnivores alike. As Matthew is a beginning cook, I wrote up this recipe with basic steps so that he'd be able to duplicate the dish."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 bag frozen Quorn tenders
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 14 -16 ounces canned vegetarian enchilada sauce
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes or 1/4 cup chopped fresh onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic, to taste
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cumin, to taste
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried ancho chile powder, to taste
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried cilantro (optional)
• 3⁄4 cup sour cream, divided
• 1 1⁄4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 1⁄4 cups shredded monterey jack cheese or 1 1/4 cups monterey jack pepper cheese (if you like it spicy)
• tortilla chips

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a skillet on medium high, sauté the Quorn tenders in oil until they're browned; set aside.
3. Mix together the enchilada sauce, onion, garlic, cumin, ancho, tabasco to taste (I only put in about 1/4 teaspoon, because I'm a whimp), and cilantro (if using).
4. Combine the shredded cheeses together.
5. Lightly grease (I use cooking spray) a large deep casserole dish; pour a little of the sauce mixture into the bottom of the dish, about 1/4 cup, and roll the dish in your hands to coat the bottom with the sauce.
6. Break up the chips a bit so that they'll lay better in the dish, but not so small that they'll disintegrate in the sauce- no smaller than, say, fifty-cent pieces (you're going to make at least two layers of chips/tenders/sauce, so keep that in mind for the next steps; three layers is better, but kind of hard to achieve because of how the chips lay and how much space they take up in the dish).
7. Add a layer of chips to the bottom of the dish, top it with some of the browned Quorn tenders, then dot it with some of the sour cream, then some of the cheese, then sauce.
8. Repeat the layers until you're out of Quorn, sauce, cheese, etc- but make sure to end with a cheese layer.
9. Cover the casserole dish and bake for 25 minutes; remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese on top is golden and browned, then serve and enjoy!
10. Note: I've tried making this without browning the Quorn first, and I don't recommend it; frozen Quorn releases liquid and can turn the casserole all liquidy- still tastes good, but isn't the right consistency.
11. Also, the casserole tastes quite good with beans such as black soybeans added to it.

Reviews

[Matthew M.]

YUUU--UUUUU-UUUMMM! *drool* *drool* *drool* -- Julie's vegetarian friend Matthew