Nov 17, 2005

Posole

Posole is a traditional Mexican soup, often served around the holidays, especially at New Years. I haven't made it in a while but today my 5 year old was asking me if I would buy some nixtamal (fresh hominy) and make some so I've added it to my list of menus for the week after Thanksgiving.

Nixtamal looks like this:

Nixtamal can be found in any supermarket in the Southwestern US in the dairy/deli cooler. In other areas of the country it can most likely be found in a Mexican or ethnic market. If you can't find it, canned hominy will do just fine.

Traditionally posole is served with a squeeze of lemon juice, a sprinkle of chopped, fresh cilantro, a few dahses of hot sauce and bollilos on the side.




Posole

2 qt. water
1 lb. stew meat (beef or pork cut into small cubes)
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 white onion, sliced
1 c. nixtamal, rinsed well (or 2 lb. can hominy, drained)
1 c. dried pinto beans, sorted and rinsed
1 Tbsp. New Mexico chili powder
1 Tbsp salt (or more to taste)

Bring water to a boil, rinse meat and add to water with garlic. When meat begins to brown, add salt. Mix in beans, nixtamal and onion. turn heat down to low and cook 3 hours or until beans and nixtamal are tender. Add more water and stir as needed while cooking.

6 comments:

Dawna said...

Posole is a recent discover for me, up here in Canada, but I love it! I've had great success with using whole dried chiles (ancho, pasilla, and guajillo) that have had their stems and seeds removed, been lightly toasted on an open flame, and then soaked in warm water and pureed. An amazing depth of flavour! I add cumin, too, but I'm crazy about anything with cumin in it.

Michele said...

I LOVE posole. I grew up eating it on New Years at my great aunt's house. I'll have to try the cumin, I love it too.

s'kat said...

My folks used to live in New Mexico, and had told me about posole, but I've never personally tried it. I'll definately give this recipe a shot!

Michele said...

Let me know how you like it! It really is good, the lemon gives such a nice fresh flavor too.

Emma said...

I discovered dried giant white corn a couple weeks ago and am going to try my hand at some version of posole this evening, to slurp up while watching the Oscars with friends. Will have to trade the pork for chicken, but will definitely be taking parts of your recipe for ideas! And from the looks of your delicious site, I'll most definitely be coming back!

Michele said...

I hope you enjoyed your posole Emma, chicken sounds like a great option. Stop by here any time, I love to have visitors! :0)