Oy vey! Nice Jewish girl learns to cook with pork products! My friend Jann made this hearty and delicious pozole with her Mexican husband, Luciano, for their New Years Eve parties. She gave me her recipe using pork shoulder, but the second time I made it I used the leaner pork loin.
Now I make it with chicken breast, and cook it a total of 30, about 10-15 minutes for the raw chicken and 25 minutes for the hominy.
Cooked with chilies and hominy and topped with cabbage, oregano, radishes and cilantro, with either meat, it makes a rich and satisfying stew.
This recipe made 10 servings, including leftovers.
Ingredients:
1 gallon chicken broth. For the cross-cultural experience, use Roz’s Jewish Chicken Soup. 4 dried red chilies, such as ancho, guajillo or pasilla chili 2 fresh poblano chili peppers 1Tb olive oil 1 Tb chicken fat from soup 2 white onions 1 Tb dried oregano 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/2 tsp ground comino (cumin) 1 Tb paprika (Spanish smoked paprika adds a nice smoky flavor) Several grinds black pepper 4 large cloves garlic 2 tsp salt, divided 1/2 pound pork loin OR 2 pounds chicken breast 3 bay leaves 39- oz and 15-oz cans of white or purple hominy (maíz blanco o morado) 2 chayotes, peeled, seed area removed, and chopped (optional)
Condiments:
Chili Sauce:
Wearing disposable exam gloves, remove the stems and seed pods from the dried red chilies. Heat a heavy frying pan and toast them until they begin to brown slightly. Rinse them in cold water and tear into small pieces. Place them in a shallow bowl with a 3/4 cup of boiling water to soften and cover with a plate.
Still wearing gloves, remove the stems and seed pods from the poblano peppers and slice. Toast them briefly until charred marks appear on them.
Pour a tablespoon of olive oil and the tablespoon of chicken fat to the frying pan and fry the poblanos and onions over medium heat until soft and the onions are translucent. Smash the garlic with a molcajete or mortar and pestle, chop it finely, and fry it with the onions for about 30 seconds, just until it turns golden. Stir in oregano, paprika, black pepper, cumin and thyme.
Heat 2 cups of the chicken broth and add to the pan, along with the soaked chilies and soaking liquid. Simmer for 15 minutes and let cool to room temperature, and then pour into blender and blend on high until it’s smooth.
Heat up the frying pan and then add a tablespoon of olive oil. Pour the chili sauce into the frying pan and simmer covered for 15 minutes, until the chili sauce turns a darker red.
While sauce is simmering, heat the remaining broth in a large pot. Rinse the blender with broth several times to get all the chili sauce out and pour into the frying pan with the rest of the sauce. After the sauce has simmered, pour it into the broth and add the bay leaves.
PORK METHOD:
Cut the pork into large (about 3 x 3) chunks and trim extra fat. Pour another tablespoon of oil to a heavy frying pan. Add the pork, sprinkling salt and dried oregano on each side. Brown pork on all sides then put in the stock. After pork is browned, add 2 ladles of hot broth to the frying pan to deglaze it. Using a metal spatula, loosen all the browned bits into the broth and then pour it back into the pot.
Simmer the soup at low-medium heat for 1 ½ hours.
Pour the soup into a large container and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove the congealed fat from the top of the soup and the meat, and heat to boiling.
While broth is heating, shred or chop the meat, discarding bones and fat, and then add the shredded meat to the broth.
CHICKEN BREAST METHOD:
Sprinkle the breasts with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
After you add the chili sauce to the broth, add the breasts and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the breasts are cooked through. Use tongs to remove the breasts from the broth, let it cool until you can shred the meat. Add the shredded meat to 3 cups of the broth.
FOR BOTH MEATS:
At this point, you may want to let the pozole sit overnight or a few days to let the flavors develop. You can even freeze it if you’re not planning to eat it soon.
About 30 minutes before serving, Add chopped chayotes and drained hominy to the broth. Simmer for 25 minutes, until chayote is tender and the hominy blooms flower-like. Add the shredded chicken or pork. Adjust salt to taste.
Scoop hot pozole into bowls and top with condiments. Squeeze a bit of lime in, roll up a few warm corn tortillas to dip in the soup, y disfrútelo.
Roz's Scrumptious Recipes 