Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 5 large cloves of garlic, slivered
- 5 lbs chicken thigh, boneless, skinless - cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 ts smoked paprika
- 1 ½ tsp mex oregano (regular oregano is a fine substitute)
- 1 tsp dried cilantro
- 1 tbsp epazote
- 2 qts chicken stock
- 1 jar Wild Sol Hot Salsa
- 1 8 oz jar of tomato paste
- 3 cans of white hominy, drained
- Dried chiles (ancho, guajillo, cascabel) - crack open and shake out seeds, reserve chili pieces
Instructions:
Sweat onion in a tbsp of oil using a large heavy bottomed crockpot, or dutch oven. Feel free to add a tablespoon of some bacon fat; butter is fine too. Keep your heat at medium or low. You'll want the onion to start to turn translucent (we aren’t going for color here); this will take around 3-4 minutes. Add your garlic. When it begins to get fragrant (30 seconds or so), add in your chicken and spices. Turn up the heat a bit, and stir to begin cooking. Add tomato paste and stir, coating the chicken pieces. Add 1 qt of chicken stock.
In medium size sauce pan, combine 1 qt of chicken stock and dried chiles. Bring to a simmer. Continue simmering until the chiles are softened. Put aside.
In a blender, puree the salsa. Then slowly add in chicken stock and chile mixture. Puree as well.
Add pureed salsa and dried chile to the stockpot. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is a richly flavorful soup, but it is not hot. If you wish to increase the heat level, feel free to use different dried chiles such as arbol to increase the heat level.
Serve with fresh white onion, thinly sliced radish, sour cream, avocado, sliced cabbage, sour cream and lime.
Glossary of terms:
Sweat: cook with color. Use med low heat.
Fat: butter, ghee, or animal fats like bacon fat, schmaltz (chicken fat), tallow (beef fat), or lard (pork fat).
Pro tips:
Salt is always Diamond Crystal Kosher.
Butter is always salted.
Use a blend of oils and fats when cooking for more flavor. Use avocado as a base and add olive oil, or a touch of bacon fat. Never use straight butter, it will burn. Use ghee (clarified butter) for a delicious nutty alternative.
