Red Enchilada Sauce

Friday night found me putting together red enchilada sauce - after reviewing a ton of recipes, I decided a course for my own version which turned out quite well.  It isn't as much a rockstar as the Green Enchilada Sauce, but quite good.  I've noticed this happens in my food experiments - the Fig-Early Girl Tomato chutney had a combination of spices & fruit that worked so amazingly well together that it nearly made me want to chuck all the other chutneys I have made.

Faithful readers - for your review - here is the recipe.  If you have suggestions for tweaks that might send this over the top - please chime in!

Red Enchilada Sauce

• 8 c roasted/seeded/peeled red Anaheim chiles
• 6-7 c veggie broth
• 2 c water (add'l as needed)
• 1/2 lb tomatillos, husked & halved
• 1.5 lb white or yellow onions, peeled & quartered
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 3 Tb dried epazote

Simmer all ingredients except peppers til soft.  Mix in peppers & puree in blender in batches.

Measure spices:

• 1 Tb cumin seed
• 1 Tb coriander
• 1 t white pepper
• 1-2 dried chipotle peppers, snipped into 1/4" bits
• 1 6-8" stick Mexican cinnamon (soft cinnamon - aka "Ceylon cinnamon") - broken into 1/2" pieces
• 1 star anise
  
• 1/2 c white sesame seeds

Toast  all spices except sesame seeds together - place in spice grinder.  Toast sesame seeds & place in spice grinder.

Toast & grind:

• 2 c whole raw almonds

Add toasted & ground spices & nuts to puree, mix and reblend everything.  Next -

• 3-4 c yellow cherry tomatoes
• 2 Tb salt
• 1-1.5 c cocoa powder
  

Add remaining 3 ingredients to puree & reblend in batches to ensure thorough mixing.

Prepare your enchiladas with fillings of your choice or ladle into sterilized jars for canning.

YIELD:

• 1 large pan of 12 enchiladas
  
• 10 - 16 oz jars of red enchilada sauce