Pumpkin Chicken Enchiladas

Welcome to Day 5 of Pumpkin Week.  It's our last day and I wanted to end with something spicy and savory.  Pumpkin is such a great ingredient that it works well both in sweet and savory dishes.  So since I'm a savory type of girl... here's my pumpkin and chicken enchiladas.  I shared some of these with my mother and she loved them.  When ever my mother gives my food a thumbs up... it's like a gold medal dish for me.  My daughter also loved these enchiladas and that was a big surprise as well since she can be picky about meat in dishes.  I experimented with this dish and it was a surprising and fun dish.   Hope you enjoyed pumpkin week!

 Ingredients:
Chicken Poaching ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs chicken (boneless)
salt
black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder (or fresh garlic)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp taco powder (optional)
enough water to cover the chicken


  Sauce and filling
1/2 bell pepper diced
1 medium onion diced
bottoms of green onions
1 stalk celery diced
2-3 cloves garlic grated
1-2 tsp cumin powder
1-2 Tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp brown sugar (up to 1 tsp to taste)
chicken bullion powder to taste

 1 (15 oz) can crushed tomato sauce
1 cup canned pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) 


6-10 Tortillas (corn or flour)
8 oz of shredded Cheddar or Mexican Blend Cheese
Sour cream (as desired)
Tops of green onions

 Directions:

Poach chicken until fully cooked in poaching ingredients above.  Reserve 1 cup of poaching liquid once chicken is cooked and discard the rest. Remove chicken from pan and shred once it is cool enough to touch.

 Heat 1-2 Tbs of canola oil in a separate pan and saute onions, peppers, garlic, celery and whites of green onion.  Once softened add cumin powder, chili powder, red chili flakes, salt, black pepper and cinnamon powder.

Next add crushed tomato sauce, reserved poaching liquid and pumpkin puree.  Mix well and season with some chicken bullion  to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the chunky celery, onion and peppers and mix with the shredded chicken.  Reserve remaining sauce for top of enchiladas.

Submerge the tortillas in some heated oil for a few seconds. This will help make the tortillas pliable for rolling and help with keeping the sauce from making them soggy.  Fill the middle of tortilla with the chicken/pumpkin filling, some cheese and roll closed.  Place in a sprayed (with cooking spray) baking dish seam side down.  Put a light coating of the reserved tomato/pumpkin sauce over the middle of the tortillas and remaining cheese. ** Don't soak the tortillas with the sauce--- if you have extra, leave it to serve at the table for those that want it saucy.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Serve hot with sour cream and green onion tops.  Enjoy.

 


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