Pozole is a traditional Mexican dish, which features lots of pork, chile peppers and hominy. Hominy is corn that has been treated with the mineral lime, to remove the outer hull, AKA the pericap. It sounds a bit weird, but think of hominy being like tiny little dumplings. They add a bit of texture to this classic comfort food. Hominy is also called pozole.
I saw pozole soup featured on an episode of Dinner’s, Drive-in’s and Dive’s and thought it looked pretty tasty. Now that I’m on a Mexican cooking streak, at least for this month, I thought I’d try making homemade pozole.
Pozole Soup or Stew
Depending on how much liquid is added to the recipe, the pozole can be a soup or stew. I was worried about all the chili peppers that were added to the recipe, so I added a bit more liquid to make mine like a soup. Any kind of pork can be used in this recipe; stew meat or pork shoulder. I had some thick cut pork chops in the refrigerator, which I ended up using in the pozole.
Interesting Ingredients
Most of the ingredients for the pozole should be available at local grocery stores. I live in SE Florida so Latin-American ingredients are just about everywhere. You may have to hunt around a bit, my local stores all have an ethnic food section, where they lump together all the Asian and Latin cuisine ingredients. You can also purchase all the necessary ingredients, such as hominy corn, dried chili peppers, chipolte and queso cotija, from an online retailer such as Mex Grocer.
Pozole: Pork and Hominy Stew
Ingredients
- 1 can hominy 29 ounces
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2.5 pounds lean pork cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 whole bay leaves
- 2 dried chili peppers I used one chili negro and one chili pasilla
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
- 4-6 cups beef or vegetable broth
- 2 whole chipolte peppers in adobe sauce chopped
Instructions
- Drain the water from the can of hominy and place the hominy in a medium sauce pan.
- Fill the sauce pan with fresh water and bring to a boil.
- Turn the heat down to low, and let the hominy simmer for 30-45 minutes.
- While the hominy is simmering, add the oil to a large stock pot, or dutch oven placed over medium heat.
- Add the pork, and cook until lightly browned on all sides.
- Place the cooked pork in a bowl and continue preparing the stew.
- Add the onions to the pan, and let cook in the pork fat/vegetable oil mixture until they begin to turn translucent. Add more oil if necessary.
- Stir the garlic into the onions and cook for another minute.
- Add the cooked pork back into the pan.
- Add the cumin and allspice then stir in the can of crushed tomatoes and chicken broth.
- Lightly dry toast the Mexican oregano and bay leaves in a frying pan placed over medium heat. Let cool slightly then add the toasted herbs to the pozole.
- Lightly dry toast the dried chile peppers in a frying pan placed over medium heat. Remove the toasted peppers to a plate, and let cool. When cool enough to handle, remove the seeds and inner membrane. Roughly tear the toasted chili peppers into small pieces, and stir into the pozole.
- Stir the chopped chipolte peppers in adobe sauce into the pozole.
- Bring the pozole to a boil, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 1/2 hour.
- Strain the hominy, once it has finished simmering, and stir it into the pan of pozole.
- Let the pozole simmer for another 1/2 hour.
- Remove the bay leaves, and serve the pozole with the garnishes of your choice. Cotija is a cheese named after the town of Cotija in the Mexican state of Michoacán. This hard, crumbly Mexican cheese is made mainly from cow's milk
- Just before serving, I like to add a splash of lime juice and fresh cilantro to my bowl of pozole.
Notes
- Crumbled queso cotija – a semi-hard, salty Mexican cheese, which is a bit like feta.
- Shredded cabbage
- Chopped onions
- Fresh cilantro leaves
- Lime wedges
- Sliced radishes
- Chili powder and/or hot sauce – only if you like REALLY spicy pozole. I thought the pozole had a little bit more heat than I’m used to, but I am trying to get a bit more adventurous.
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