Ingredients
Serves 12
3 29-oz cans of hominy, drained and rinsed
2 3-pound chickens, cut into serving pieces (For Pork Pozole, substitute with 6-pounds pork shoulder/butt)
1 white onion
5 cilantro sprigs
Kosher or coarse sea salt
For the Chile Puree (what makes it red and spicy good),
2 ancho chiles, rinsed, stemmed and seeded
1/4 cup chopped white onion
3 garlic cloves
Pinch of ground cumin
2 whole cloves
1 teaspoon Kosher or coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Accompaniments, as desired
5-6 limes
10 radishes, halved and thinly sliced
1 head romaine lettuce, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped white onion in small cubes
Dried ground chile, such as piquín
Dried Mexican oregano
Tortilla chips or tostadas
Refried beans
Directions
Place the chickens in a large pot and add water to cover by at least 2 inches. Add the onion, cilantro and 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the chicken is cooked through and tender, about 40 minutes. Drain, reserving cooking broth.
When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones and shred into bite-sized pieces. In the pot, combine the hominy and 2 cups of water with the shredded chicken and its broth. Taste for salt, add more if necessary and cook for 10 minutes or more; the pozole should be soupy.
Mexican cook's trick: Keep in mind that if you decide to substitute for the Pork option, the pork takes twice as long to cook, reserve the broth to add to the pozole.
For Chile Puree,
Place the chiles in a medium saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until soft. Place the chiles, along with 3.4 cups of their cooking liquid, the onion, garlic, cumin, cloves and salt in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of the wooden spoon to extract as much liquid and essence as possible.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the chile puree and bring to a boil, then simmer for 6-8 minutes, partially covered with a lid (because it will be pungently good you may cry), stirring occasionally, until thickened, remove from the heat.
Stir in the chile puree to the while pozole and cook for 20 minutes for the flavors to fully macerate. Taste and adjust the salt.
Serve the pozole in large soup bowls, with the garnishes in bowls on the table so guests can customize their pozole experience.
Hominy, or maíz cacahuacintle, also known as giant white corn or maíz mote pelado, looks like corn kernels gone wild. White and super meaty, these giant kernes are an excellent and healthy choice for any stew our soup. Hominy is rich in Vitamin b, has about 4g of fiber per single cup, almost half the calories than white rice (120 calories vs. 250 calories in rice), naturally gluten-free and virtually zero fat (1 gram per cup).
Recipe Courtesy of "Pati's Mexican Table" Cookbook.
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