[1] Stuff a baked potato with enchilada ingredients. The recipe is below (recipe and photo © Idaho Potato Commission).

[2] Classic enchiladas with red enchilada sauce (photo © Melissa’s Produce).

[3] Enchiladas Suizas, made with a white sauce of cream, tomatillos, onions, cilantro, and green chiles. Here’s the recipe (photo © Chef Ingrid Hoffmann).

[4] A chicken enchilada casserole. Here’s the recipe (photo © Pampered Chef).

[5] Enchiladas in a cast iron pan (photo © Idaho Potato Commission).

[6] Butternut squash and black bean enchiladas Here’s the recipe (photo © Skinny Taste).

Who came up with the great idea to hold National Enchilada Day on Cinco de Mayo? We’d like to complain!

Enchiladas deserve their own holiday, one that doesn’t get bundled in with the myriad foods and drinks served by Americans to celebrate Cinco de Mayo—which, by the way, is a holiday much more important to Mexican-food-loving Americans than it is to Mexicans.

So take this Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Baked Potato recipe (photo #1) and declare your own enchilada celebration on another day.

Below:

> A “big enchilada” recipe: enchilada baked potato (photo #1).

> The history of enchiladas.

> More enchilada recipes.

> “Creative” enchilada ideas.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of Cinco de Mayo.

> The year’s 25+ Mexican and Tex-Mex food holidays.
 
 

[7] We want to dig right in to these enchiladas rojas in a spicy, tomato-red chile sauce. The recipe is in “The Tequila Diet: Exploring Mexican Food & Drink with the World’s Greatest Spirit” by one of our favorite Top Chef contestants, Dave Martin.

Some enchilada trivia: In Mexican Spanish, “enchilada” is the past participle of enchilar, meaning “to season with chiles.
 
 
RECIPE: CHICKEN ENCHILADA-STUFFED BAKED POTATOES

You can serve this stuffed baked potato for lunch with a salad, or as a first course for dinner. The potato takes the place of the tortilla, but the fillings are the same.

If you like extra heat, garnish the potatoes with sliced fresh jalapeños before serving.

This recipe was developed for the Idaho Potato Commission by Courtney Rowland of Neighbor Food Blog.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the chicken, enchilada sauce, onion, green chilies, and garlic powder in a slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours or on high heat for 4 hours.

2. REMOVE the chicken and place it on a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the meat. Return the meat to the slow cooker to keep warm.

3. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F. Wash and dry the potatoes, and poke them several times with a fork. Set them on a large plate or a pan and drizzle them with olive oil to coat on all sides. Sprinkle them with kosher salt.

4. USING tongs, transfer the potatoes directly to the rack in the oven. Bake until fork-tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven.

5. MAKE a long slit down the center of each potato and use your fingers to pinch it together and get the potato to fan out. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Butter if desired. Top each potato with chicken, chopped avocado, cheese, sour cream, and cilantro.
 
 
MORE ENCHILADA RECIPES

 
 
THE HISTORY OF ENCHILADAS

Enchiladas are a food traced back to the ancient Mayans, who used their staple crop, corn, to make tortillas.

The name for tortilla in the Yucatec language of the Mayas is tlaxcalli (las-COLL-ee), meaning small cake. The Spanish conquistadors changed the name to tortilla, meaning small cake in Spanish [source].

The oldest evidence of tortillas can be traced to about 10,000 B.C.E, in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, home to some of the Maya peoples [source].

The first enchiladas documented by the conquistadors were served at a feast soon after their arrival in 1519.

Later, the first Mexican cookbook, “El Cocinero Mexicano,” recorded that the dish was a plain corn tortilla, rolled and dipped in chili sauce. It was in this simple form that tortillas were eaten as Mexican street food.

As early as the preclassical period (2000-250 B.C.E.), the Maya of the Yucatán Peninsula were dipping corn tortillas in pumpkin seeds, rolling them around chopped hard-boiled eggs, and covering them with tomato sauce.

But the Aztecs were the first to develop the first modern, filled enchilada, using chiles. They were ground up into a spicy paste into which tortillas were dipped, then filled with beans, eggs, fish, game, or squash. Its Aztec language [Nahuatl] name, chīllapīzzali. literally means “chile-flute.”

After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519 – 1521), the conquistadors appropriated much of its cuisine. Enchiladas had particular appeal: not just tasty, but simple to cook and could even be eaten on the march.

New ingredients were added to meet Spanish tastes, including cheese, chicken and pork. Spicy sauces were used instead of Aztec chile paste which had previously been a basis of the Aztec version [source].

Modern Enchiladas

Thus began the enchiladas we know and love today.

Today, you can find enchiladas stuffed with beans, beef, cheese, chicken, pork, or vegetables, served with traditional red enchilada sauce, mole sauce, spicy chile verde sauce, or creamy white sauce.

There are enough variations to keep you in enchiladas for many years of National Enchilada Days!
 

[7] Roll your own: Make it an interactive enchilada experience. Put out the fixings, along with a pitcher of warm enchilada sauce (photo © Bumbleberry Farms).
 
 
CREATIVE ENCHILADA IDEAS

Speaking of variations, these enchilada concepts push forward the flavors, textures, and presentation while keeping the spirit of the enchilada intact.

And yes, you’ll notice some “fusion food.”

If you enjoy these ideas, we have a dozen more for a forthcoming post.
 
 
Baja Fish & Pickled Slaw Enchiladas

 
 
Korean BBQ (Bulgogi) Enchiladas with Gochujang Mole

 
 
Smoky Oaxaca Burrata Enchiladas

 
 
Green Curry Shrimp Enchiladas (Thai-Mex)

 

[8] Fusion enchiladas: Mexico x Korea. Korean BBQ (bulgogi) enchiladas with a rich gochujang-ancho mole (photo: The Nibble).
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Here’s a lovely tea gift from Williamson Tea: a metal tea canister beautifully designed with an elephant decked out in paisley. Inside: 40 premium Earl Grey teabags.

The tea is grown exclusively on Williamson’s Kaimosi tea farm in Kenya. The farm sits beside the Kakamega Forest, a subtropical rainforest.

This fresh, bright, and fragrant black tea blend is scented naturally with Earl Grey’s signature bergamot oranges.

Elephant tea caddies are a signature item of Williamson Tea, Kenyan tea farmers who grow some of the most sustainable, high–quality liquoring* teas in the world.

There are currently 16 different tea caddy designs (alas, currently shipping only to the U.K.).

But this pink caddy (photo #1), availablein the U.S. Mark T. Wendell Tea Co., is a great pick for Mother’s Day.

Make a tea lover happy with this beautiful paisley elephant tea caddy, containing 40 tea bags. After the initial tea bags are gone, the canister can be filled infinitely.

Get your Elephant Tea GIft Canister at MarkTWendell.com.

Since 1904, Mark T. Wendell Tea Co. has focused on luxury tea blends. They sell more than 100 tea blends, plus tea accessories and tea gifts.

Take a look at all of them while you’re on the website.
 
 
> EARL GREY TEA HISTORY

________________

*Tea liquor is the liquid created by steeping tea leaves in water—i.e., it’s the brewed tea. But to tea connoisseurs, it’s more than that. Similar to evaluating the color, density, and other visual aspects of wine, experts look at the brewed tea for its noticeable hues, texture/viscosity, and other features that distinguish a particular type of tea.

There is no alcohol in tea liquor. Rather, the name was conferred long ago to acknowledge that brewed tea is no longer a cup of water; chemically it has changed. It has developed depth, fragrance, color, taste, aftertaste, and other appeals to the senses.

The liquor begins at the moment the tea leaves begin to infuse the water and continues to develop until the tea is fully steeped.

[1] The elephant tea canister remains a permanent gift for tea or other storage. It’s nice enough to decorate other parts of the home, too (photo © Mark D. Wendell Tea Company).

[2] Earl Grey tea leaves. The elephant canister packs the loose tea into tea bags (photo © Fava Tea).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] A coconut “Margarita” with a shredded coconut rim (both photos © Koloa Rum).

[2] Bottles of Kōloa Coconut Rum. The brand also makes Kauaʻi White, Gold, Dark, Reserve Cask Strength Single-Barrel Aged Hawaiian Rum, Cacao, Coffee, and Spice rums. All are wonderful for home or gifting.

There are many ways to tweak a Margarita (check out our 35 Margarita recipes). But given our druthers, we’d keep at least the tequila, fruit liqueur, and lime. But with this Coconut Margarita recipe, Kōloa Rum, a premium rum producer, has made a departure: no orange or other fruit liqueur.

So is it still a Margarita? Read our article, Margarita Vs. Not A Margarita.

We’d give this cocktail a different name; Coconut Dream, Coconut Cloud…fill in your choice of name here.

Call it whatever, but it’s definitely delicious, and a treat for coconut lovers.

For Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, or another festive occasion, bring a bottle of Kōloa Coconut Rum (photo #2). Use it to make a Coconut Margarita (photo #1), Piña Colada, Coconut Rum Milk Punch, these six recipes from Kōloa, and other coconut rum cocktails.

> The history of rum.

> The history of the Margarita.

> More Cinco de Mayo recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: COCONUT MARGARITA
 
Ingredients Per Drink

Distilled, blended, and bottled in Kalaheo, Kauaʻi, Hawaii by Kōloa Rum Company, Kōloa Coconut Rum is 40% ABV/80 proof.

The rum is distilled from pure cane sugar, distilled in a vintage, steam-powered copper pot still, and cut with filtered water from the ancient Mount Waiʻaleʻale.

The nose features intense coconut aromatics with light hints of roasted coconut and Piña Colada undertones.

The initial flavor is of baby coconut flesh at the front of the palate, with a finish of lightly toasted coconut, and hints of fresh lime zest. If you have a super palate, you may detect the slightest bit of caramelized pineapple.