This is the sauce I make that we love, and others have eaten and they like...

https://cookieandkate.com/enchilada-sauce-recipe/

Not tomato sauce, but tomato paste

My recipe is similar to rob's. I've had it for decades and I probably halved the recipe. It came from the Sacramento Bee and is credited to a Sacramento restaurant called Capitol Tamale.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. oregano
1 clove garlic (minced)
14 oz. chicken broth (canned broth or homemade)

Combine ingredients except broth in medium saucepan or deep skillet. Cook and stir until hot. Stir in broth. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Dip corn tortillas in hot oil and warm sauce. Pour remaining sauce over rolled enchiladas. It should be enough for about 8 enchiladas.

The main ingredient in enchilada sauce is chilies - never chili powder. Here is my recipe for chili sauce, which is very similar to Pati Jinich's, although I have been making it longer than she has:

• 8 whole, dried chilies (Ancho, Pasilla, Guajillo combination)
• 1-2 toasted chiles de ábol (for heat, if desired)
  2 cups water
  3 cloves garlic
  1 tsp dried or fresh oregano
  1 tsp red wine or balsamic vinegar (optional)

Remove the stems from the chilies and slit open to remove seeds and membranes. Toast the chilies on a comal until they start to smoke, if desired - it helps the flavor slightly but is not necessary, although it is traditional in Mexico. Place the chilies in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and simmer covered for 20-30 minutes.

Blend coarsely with a stick blender (or pulse in a blender), and strain the mixture through a food mill or strainer to remove chili skins.

Store in glass jar in refrigerator until ready to use. If you plan to store it very long, add 1 tsp of vinegar.

Note: This mixture can be thickened with a roux made from 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp flour. If you don’t use more than 2 cups of water, this should not be necessary.

Yield: approximately 1-1/2 to 2 cups.

I sometimes add a bit of tomato paste or tomato powder, but it is not necessary and is not traditional in Mexico.

When I make enchiladas, I do add some cumin to the chili sauce as well as some achiote paste, in order to make them Yucatecan style, which is my favorite. Chili sauce and enchilada sauce are almost identical, except that enchilada sauce has cumin and the optional achiote paste, which I love - it makes me feel like I am back in Yucatán.

I recommend this Pati Jinich cookbook. I have also exchanged emails with Pati, as she and I have similar styles for cooking Mexican food, and I used to spend a lot of time in Polanco, the neighborhood in Mexico City where she grew up.

I'll be following this thread, enchiladas are my favorite!

I've made this one from Patricia Quintana 'The Taste of Mexico' , but it's a lot (it's called Enchiladas al Tizoc and goes with fried corn tortillas dipped in the sauce, rolled and then fried - with cheeses, sour cream, garnishes on top). But I think it could be used with any enchiladas.

If you'd like I can photo the recipe for clarification.

4 chiles anchos

5 chiles guajillos roasted seeded and deveined

2 chiles de arbol

1 quart hot water

1/2 cup vinegar

6 cloves garlic pureed

1 white onion, pureed

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt to taste

Soak the chiles in the water and vinegar for an hour, drain and reserve water. Blend chiles with garlic, onion, cumin, pepper, oregano, and salt. Add enough reserved water to consistency of a slightly thick sauce.

These all sound so good! I detest the yellow and red canned stuff! I did make my own awhile ago, but can't find the recipe. I also love the salsa verde which, I think I'll be making a LOT of this year, cause they only had 6 packs of the tomatillo plants!

This made me so hungry I made the sauce tonight and will serve over lightly fried flour tortillas rolled up with pepperjack cheese inside and baked casserole style.

Thank-you all for posting. So far the one from Lat62 looks most like what I've been looking for. I'll start trying when I have fridge room. :)

Lars, comments like that really have me scratching my head. Do you also only use fresh herbs? Never out of a jar? I don't have access to fresh peppers year round, so why not the dried and powered form? Does it lose all its flavor when you use powered?

My recipe uses dried chilies - it makes no mention of fresh chilies. Dried chilies can be kept for more than a year. I store mine in vacuum sealed jars or bags. Powdered chilies do not have the fragrance of whole dried chilies. My point is to start with whole dried chilies - not fresh chilies - that would also have a very different flavor. Dehydrated chilies are readily available on line.

Just as chili sauce made with fresh chilies will have a very different flavor from a chili sauce made from dried chilies, a chili sauce made from chili powder will have a very different flavor from a sauce made with whole dried chilies.

Even the names of dried chilies are different from their names when they are fresh.

I use both dried and fresh herbs, but I do not always consider them interchangeable. Dried basil tastes nothing like fresh basil, but it is still a good ingredient in its own right. Many ingredients change drastically when dehydrated - prunes are not a substitute for fresh plums, for example.

I do have a dehydrator, and I dehydrate a lot of foods myself. I also buy a lot of dehydrated foods, such as mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage (one of my favorites), beans, etc. There are some dehydrated foods that I have tried and have decided that I do not like - broccoli is one of them.

I also use sometimes (but rarely) dehydrated onion bits (for convenience), and I use garlic powder when I make grits, because I cannot tell the difference, since I put so many ingredients in my grits. I generally use fresh garlic, and there are many recipes for which garlic powder is not an acceptable substitute, such as vinaigrette salad dressing. I keep dehydrated potato flakes on hand - not for mashed potatoes, but mainly to use as a thickener. If I make mashed potatoes and they are too watery, I will add potato flakes to them, however.

I make a sort of ranch salad dressing that starts with garlic cloves mashed with kosher salt in a mortar and pestle, and then I add black pepper and lemon juice. This paste can be used for several recipes that I make, but for ranch dressing I add fresh parsley (never dried) and fresh dill, although dried dill can be used if it is not too old. This is then added to a combination of mayo and buttermilk for a salad dressing, or a combo of mayo and sour cream for a dip.

A lot of foods change flavor over time, and ones that have been ground tend to be the worst, in this respect. Black pepper is a good example of this.

ETA: I do use ginger from a jar when making Thai and Japanese dishes, even though it is recommended only to use fresh or frozen. I do keep some ginger in my freezer (since it goes bad quickly), but I am satisfied with the results I get using ginger from a jar. I do not use dried ginger, and I use fresh ginger (not jarred) when making ginger snaps and pumpkin pie. You can use dried ginger in these, but the flavor is so much better when fresh ginger is used.

My chili powder is pure chili. From dried chilies. Ancho and guajillo

I prefer organic, and it's practically impossible to find fresh organic chiles here unless I grow my own, and I haven't been able to grow chiles or any other peppers for years now, because of chili thrips. I really miss growing pasilla bajio chiles - they were quite sweet when ripe, and had just the right amount of heat for my taste, along with really nice flavor.

I can buy organic jalapenos, but to me they have no flavor - just heat.

So I do often use paprika as a substitute for ground chilis - it's almost the same thing, IMO, and will do in a pinch. I also buy ground chipotle as well as cayenne. I do not make enchiladas or sauce, tho.

i use the Gimme Some Oven recipe. All of her sauces and dressing work well for us. Her Homemade Ranch dressing is a real favourite as we have a couple of mayonnaise adverse folks in the family.