Pozole Rojo

 
Pozole is a beautiful thing.
 
It's porky (or can be made with chicken if you want) and so warming, hearty, spice and delicious. When I make one batch, my husband and I have dinner for 3 nights. Best of all, this is also a dirt cheap dinner when serving a family. Pork costs less than $3 per pound and the hominy is $2 for one can. All of the other garnishes are a negligible fee (except avocados, which are freakishly expensive).
 
Pozole is also shockingly easy. It has very few ingredients and only takes a couple hours to come together into a perfect pot of goodness.
 
Even though soup is one of those things that sounds better in the winter, I love eating soup in the summer. The spice of this soup in particular seems to cool you down. Really, make this soup the next time you want an easy, delicious, spicy dinner.
 
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs pork shoulder (more of the meaty pieces than the fatty pieces)
  • 1 gallon chicken stock (or water and chicken bouillon)
  • 12 guallijo chilis
  • 5 arbol chilis
  • 1 large (32 oz) can hominy, drained.
  • 6 bay leaves
  • black pepper corns
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 onion
  • cumin
  • oregano
  • radishes, lime, cabbage, tortilla strips, cilantro and avocado for garnish
Directions
  1. Cut pork into bite sized pieces and season with salt, pepper, oregano and cumin. Brown pork on all sides in a large pot.
  2. Fill pot with chicken stock and season with whole black peppercorns and bay leaves. Cook until pork is tender.
  3. Remove seeds from guallio and arbol chilis as best as possible. Soak chilis in a bowl of hot water until soft. Then add the drained hominy.
  4. Move chilis, one onion and garlic to a blender and blend until smooth. Add some of the soaking water if necessary to get it smooth enough to pass through the blender easily. This will be what gives you soup the smoky/spicy flavor
  5. Move the chili mixture to a sautee pan and cook for a couple minutes in order to sautee the onion and garlic. Add it to taste to the soup until it's at the adequate color and spice level. You won't need all of this.
  6. Adjust seasoning of soup to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro, radishes, cabbage, lime, tortilla strips and avocado. Eat immediately with gusto


 


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