From Chloe's Kitchen: Enchilada Sauce

Our family LOVES Mexican food... fresh mex, tex-mex, dead mex (Granny's term for the cookie-cutter, Mexican-American owned restaurants in nearly every strip mall in America). We love eating it out; even Taco Bell! I love to cook it. And Thursday is usually Mexican night.

One super simple thing I like to make is enchiladas or burritos. They aren't spectacular; just easy! Of course the thing that makes them extra yummy is the sauce. I hate buying overpriced bottled sauce. Sure it's the convenient thing to do, but once you know what goes into making it you realize how much they mark that stuff up. I have tried several recipes in search of one that really makes me happy and I finally found one.

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 4 Tbs Gebhardt Chili Powder (I used what I had in the spice cabinet)
  
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 heaping tsp. garlic powder (with no salt added)
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon (less than 1/16 tsp.)
• 1/3 tsp. sugar
• 5 Tbs. cold water
• 5 Tbs. white flour

Directions:

In a 2 quart sauce pan add the chicken broth, chili powder, cumin, salt, cinnamon and sugar (the sugar is a little secret to eliminate any bitter taste from the chili powder).

Use a whisk to mix everything well. Heat to a boil, reduce heat to a low boil and cook for 3 minutes.

Whisk frequently to make sure all spices dissolve. This is important for flavor and a nice smooth sauce.

While the sauce is on a slow simmer/boil, add 5 tablespoons of cold water in a small bowl.

With another whisk mix 1 tablespoon at a time of flour. Whisk vigorously to avoid lumps. If you have lumps here, you will definitely have lumps in your sauce.

After 3 minutes of cooking sauce, turn the heat up to high. Very slowly, pour the flour mixture into the boiling sauce. Here you must whisk the sauce vigorously while adding the flour to avoid lumps.

After all the flour is added, continue to whisk for one minute. You can turn the heat down to medium during this time. Just make sure the sauce is boiling.

Turn off the heat, this enchilada sauce recipe is done.

You will notice that as this sauce sits it will form a "skin" on the surface. This is normal and in fact the longer the sauce sits the thicker this skin becomes. All you have to do is peel the skin off and throw it away.

They aren't kidding about stirring! I added more than 1 T of the flour mixture at a time because I was in a hurry and I had a few lumps. Next time I'll follow the directions for a smoother result. This was like a gravy: thick and super good. A great flavor and the kitchen smelled great. The burritos were delicious. This one's a keeper!

I found this on is a Mexican Food Recipe site. I can't vouch for the rest of the recipes, but if you try something good let me know!