Pozolé Food

POZOLE

Steps:

• Place a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the carrots, oregano, scallions and garlic and cook until softened. Stir in the pimientos, salt, cumin, chili powder and red chile flakes. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and fry until the color deepens, about 1 minute. Add the chicken stock, shredded chicken, hominy and crushed tomatoes. Bring to a low boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and juice the halved lime into the soup. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
• To serve, add some of the shredded cabbage to the bottom of a soup bowl and ladle over the hot soup. Garnish the top with cilantro, radish, avocado, sour cream and hot sauce. Serve with limes wedges on the side.

POSOLE ROJO

Steps:

• Break the stems off the chiles de arbol and ancho chiles and shake out as many seeds as possible. Put the chiles in a bowl and cover with boiling water; weigh down the chiles with a plate to keep them submerged and soak until soft, about 30 minutes. Transfer the chiles and 1 1/2 cups of the soaking liquid to a blender. Add the smashed garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt and blend until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pushing the sauce through with a rubber spatula; discard the solids.
• Rub the pork all over with the cumin and 1/2 teaspoon salt; set aside. Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and cook 2 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high. Push the onion and garlic to one side of the pot; add the pork to the other side and sear, turning, until lightly browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in 2 cups water, the chicken broth, oregano, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of the chile sauce (depending on your taste). Bring to a low boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Partially cover and cook, turning the pork a few times, until tender, about 3 hours.
• Stir in the hominy and continue to simmer, uncovered, until the pork starts falling apart, about 1 more hour. Remove the bay leaf. Transfer the pork to a cutting board; roughly chop and return to the pot. Add some water or broth if the posole is too thick. Season with salt. Serve with assorted toppings and the remaining chile sauce.

AUTHENTIC MEXICAN POZOLE

Steps:

• This recipe requires a simple prep.
• Prepare the onion, peel the garlic, chop the onion, peel and chop the 2 garlic cloves, chop the green chilies and jalapenos if you are using them and get the hominy drained and rinsed.
• I boil my ancho chilies in a separate small pot for the garnish part(read below).
• Now you are ready to cook.
• Place the meat in a large saucepan and just cover with lightly salted water.
• Add 1/2 chopped onion, the 2 cloves peeled garlic, pepper, cumin, and oregano.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat, skim off any foam that rises, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
• Remove meat and broth, reserving both.
• Saute the remaining chopped onion and garlic in oil until translucent.
• Add the remaining spices, stir for a minute.
• Cut the reserved pork into 1 inch cubes and add to the pan.
• Stir in the canned hominy, pork broth (if there is not enough pork broth, add chicken stock, I like to add it anyway for flavor, about 2-4 cups, eyeball the amount you like), green chilies and jalapenos (optional).
• Cook at a simmer, covered, for 45 to 60 minutes until the meat and hominy are tender.
• If necessary, cook for up to an additional 60 minutes until the chilies and onions are well blended into the broth.
• Degrease the stew, taste for salt, and serve in soup bowls.
• This is a delicious recipe and well worth the effort to make.
• Garnishes that are always served with are:.
• lots of lime/lemon wedges.
• sliced radishes.
• chopped cilantro.
• Shredded cabbage(not red).
• fresh/ packaged fried corn tortillas.
• When my ancho chilies are soft from boiling(takes about 15 minutes), then i put them in the blender with 1 1/2cups of water, 1 clove of garlic and about 2 tablespoons diced onion, and about 1 tablespoons of salt and pepper. I blend this thin, then strain it to get the liquid separated from its "pulp". I throw the pulp into the soup for the flavor i like but you can discard if too spicy for you. The remaining liquid you put in a serving dish for guests to add in their own bowl, if desired. Beware! It's HOT!

POZOLE VERDE CON POLLO

Steps:

• Heat the bacon fat in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the poblanos, jalapeños, scallion whites, pepitas, garlic, cumin, coriander, allspice and salt. (Use 3 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Morton kosher salt.) Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatillos and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and begin to brown, 5 to 6 minutes.
• Remove the pot from the heat. Working in batches, transfer some of the vegetable mixture to a blender, add some of the chicken broth and puree. Transfer the pureed mixture to a large bowl and continue until all the vegetables and broth have been blended. Return the pureed mixture to the pot and add the hominy. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low, cover and simmer until the flavors come together, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine the cilantro, scallion greens and 2 cups water in the blender (you don't need to rinse it out!). Puree until completely smooth.
• Add the chicken and cilantro puree to the stew, remove from the heat and stir. Let sit until the chicken is heated through. Serve the pozole with the onion, radishes, avocado, chicharrones, oregano and lime wedges.

NEW MEXICAN POZOLE

Steps:

• Drain soaked hominy and put in large soup pot. Cover with water and bring to boil. Let simmer briskly for 1 hour.
• While hominy is cooking, make red chile purée: Toast dried chiles lightly in cast-iron skillet or stovetop grill, just until fragrant. Wearing gloves, slit chiles lengthwise with paring knife. Remove and discard stems and seeds. Put chiles in saucepan and cover with 4 cups water. Simmer 30 minutes and let cool. In blender, purée chiles to a smooth paste using some cooking water as necessary. Purée should be of milkshake consistency.
• Season pork belly and pork shoulder generously with salt and pepper. After posole has cooked 1 hour, add pork shoulder, pork belly, onion stuck with cloves, bay leaf, garlic and cumin. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches, then return to a brisk simmer. While adding water occasionally and tasting broth for salt, simmer for about 2 1/2 hours more, until meat is tender and posole grains have softened and burst. Skim fat from surface of broth.
• Stir in 1 cup chile purée and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and correct seasoning. (At this point, posole can be cooled completely and reheated later. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.)
• To serve, ladle posole, meat and broth into wide bowls. Pass bowls of diced onion, lime wedges, cilantro and oregano, and let guests garnish to taste.