Nothing more Mexican than a Pozole! This recipe is for a red pozole, even though in Mexico we also have white (without the red sauce) and green pozole adding Salsa Verde. And yes, you can use chicken instead of pork for the soup if you prefer.
3cans(15 ounces each) white hominy, drained and rinsed SEE Notes for uncooked hominy.
For the red sauce:
5guajillo pepperscleaned, seeded, open flat, and deveined
5ancho pepperscleaned, seeded, open flat, and deveined
6garlic cloves
1medium white onion coarsely chopped
½teaspoondry Mexican oregano
2tablespoonvegetable or canola oil
Salt to taste
For the garnish:
1head of lettucefinely shredded
1 ½cuponionsfinely chopped
Ground chile piquín to taste
1 ½cupradishessliced
Mexican oregano
Deep fried corn tortillastostadas
Limescut in wedges
Optional: avocadochopped
CHECK RECIPE VIDEO
Instructions
Heat water in a large stockpot. Add pork meat, spare ribs, onion, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer, partially covered for 2 and half hours or until meat is tender and falling off the bone. Season with salt when meat is almost done. While cooking, skim the top layer of foam and fat from the pot using a ladle. If necessary, add warm water to maintain the same level of broth in the pot.
Remove pork from broth; reserve broth. Trim excess fat, and remove meat from bones; discard bones, onion, and garlic from the broth. Shred meat, and cover.
Now for the sauce, soak the ancho and guajillo peppers in water just enough to cover for 25-30 minutes until soft.
Using a blender or food processor blend peppers, garlic cloves, onion, and oregano, adding some of the water in which they were soaking. Puree mixture until smooth.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the dry pepper puree and salt to taste, stirring constantly as it splatters. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, about 25 minutes.
Using a strainer, add the sauce to the broth. Bring to a boil and add the meat, and simmer gently, for about 10 minutes. Stir in white hominy, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer until heated through.
Serve Pozole in large Mexican soup bowls and place garnishes on the side as shown above.
Video
Notes
If you want to use uncook cacahuazintle corn (hominy) and cook it yourself, rinse the corn, remove any grain that looks dry or old. Place the corn in a pot with enough water to cover it at least 8-10 centimeters above the corn kernels. Add a quarter of a white onion, two cloves of garlic, you can also herbs like bay leaves and thyme. Cook for about an hour and a half until the corn opens. It may take less or longer, it depends on how old the corn is. This is for 1-½ lb. of corn. When the corn is already cooked, drain it and add it to the pozole as indicated in the recipe.
You can prepare the sauce a couple of days in advance so that it is not so elaborate to do it all the same day. The sauce can also be frozen and used for other stews such as adobos or enchiladas.
The Pozole tends to enhance its flavors the next day, so if you are going to prepare it for a party or special occasion you can cook it in advance, and just reheat it. Besides, it keeps very well in the freezer including the hominy, and it takes great when you reheat it weeks later.