Red Pozole Recipes

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.

Steps:

• Heat a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, then onion, celery and garlic. Cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the zucchini. Cook 5 more minutes, until zucchini is slightly softened, then remove from heat. Transfer vegetables to a plate and reserve.
• Return pot to medium heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, then Protein Starter. Using a wooden spoon, break apart into pieces about 1/2-inch big. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until Protein Starter is lightly golden. Add ancho chile, adobo sauce, ground cumin, and chile powder. Cook 2 more minutes, breaking up ancho chile with spoon.
• Add vegetable broth, hominy, bay leaves, oregano, and reserved vegetable mixture. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low heat and cook 10 to 12 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Season with kosher salt, if desired.
• To serve, top with cilantro leaves, diced avocado, and radishes. Serve with lime wedges and tortilla chips, if desired.

Steps:

• Slit chiles open and remove seeds and veins. Heat a flat griddle or dry heavy skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat until hot, then toast the chiles, opened flat, 2 at a time, by pressing down and turning on either side with tongs, until fragrant and insides change color, about 1 minute.
• Put chiles in a bowl with cold water to cover and let soak until soft, about 20 minutes.
• While chiles are soaking, cook onion in oil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Transfer chiles with tongs to a blender (discard soaking water) and add garlic, cider vinegar, cumin, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar, cloves, and 1 cup water. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
• Add chile purée to pot and cook, stirring, 5 minutes.
• Add remaining 5 cups water, hominy, beans, zucchini, corn, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• To serve the stew, surround it with small bowls of the accompaniments and let the guests garnish their servings as they wish.

Steps:

• Place pork shoulder, onion halves, garlic, bay leaf, and cloves in a large pot. Pour in 14 cups water (pork should be submerged). Bring to a simmer and cook, skimming as needed and turning pork occasionally, until meat is cooked through and tender but not yet falling apart, 2 1/2-3 hours. Transfer pork to a plate; let cool slightly. Strain broth into a large bowl, then transfer back to pot. Slice pork into 1/2" slices and add to broth.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Toast all the chiles on a rimmed baking sheet until brown (do not char) and starting to lightly puff in places, about 5 minutes. Bring 3 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan; add chiles. Remove from heat and let chiles soak until softened, 10-12 minutes. Blend chiles and cooking liquid in a blender until smooth; season with salt.
• Add chile purée to pork and broth. Bring to a simmer, add hominy, and cook, skimming off fat from surface, until pork is so tender it's nearly falling apart, 45-60 minutes; season with more salt.
• Divide posole among bowls, top with onion, cabbage, radishes, and oregano. Serve with lime wedges.
• Do Ahead
• Posole can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.

Steps:

• Place pork shoulder in the refrigerator. Transfer pork shanks and feet into a large pot on the stove. Add onion, carrot, and celery, salt, pepper, cumin, and bay leaves. Pour in 3 quarts water. Turn heat to high and bring to a simmer.
• Skim foam from the surface and add Mexican oregano, rubbing it between your hands as you drop it into the pot. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently until pork is tender and will easily come off the bone, about 3 ½ hours.
• While the pork is simmering, place unpeeled garlic cloves in a dry pan over medium heat. Roast the cloves, shaking the pan occasionally over the heat, until slightly charred on the outside and just starting to get soft on the inside. Remove from the heat and transfer into a bowl to cool.
• Place guajillo and ancho chile peppers into a 4-cup liquid measuring cup and set a strainer over the top. Ladle some simmering broth from the pot into the strainer until chiles are covered. Let soak until the pork is finished simmering.
• When pork is finished cooking, set a strainer over a large bowl. Remove pork and vegetables with a slotted spoon and place in the strainer.
• Meanwhile, peel the cooled garlic cloves and add them to the chile pepper and broth mixture. Puree chile mixture with an immersion blender until smooth.
• Pass pureed chiles through a strainer into the pot of broth. Add a spoonful or two of the broth to the pureed chiles to help it pass through the strainer if needed. Pour the remaining 1 quart of water through the strainer, then add the pork shoulder to the pot. Simmer over medium-low heat.
• While the pork shoulder simmers, remove bones from pork shanks, then cut shanks and feet into smaller pieces.
• Once the pork shoulder has simmered for 1 ½ hours, add diced shanks and feet to the pot. Stir in hominy and continue to simmer until pork is very tender, about 1 more hour. Skim any fat from the surface as it cooks and season with more salt if needed.

Steps:

• Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pot over medium-high. Add chicken, skin-sides down, and cook, flipping once, until browned all over, 7 to 9 minutes (do not crowd pan; brown in batches if necessary). Add 2 onion wedges, broth, and 3 cups water.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook at a bare simmer (small bubbles sporadically emerging at surface) until chicken is just cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. Strain broth and return to pot.
• Meanwhile, heat a heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high. Add dried chiles and cook, turning a few times, until blistered in places and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add enough hot tap water to cover; let stand 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add 1 onion wedge, jalapeño, and garlic; cook, turning a few times, until golden brown in places and beginning to soften, 7 to 9 minutes.
• Transfer mixture to a blender (do not wipe skillet clean), along with reconstituted dried chiles and 1/2 cup soaking liquid, oregano, cilantro, cumin, lime juice, and 1 teaspoon salt. Purée until smooth. Return mixture to skillet and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced and darkened slightly, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Remove and discard skin and bones from chicken; shred meat into bite-size pieces (leave drumsticks whole, if desired). Return chicken to pot with puréed-chile mixture and hominy. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Season to taste. Chop remaining onion wedge and serve soup with onion, radishes, cabbage, tostadas, cilantro, and lime wedges.

Steps:

• Put chicken and chunked onion in large stockpot.
• Cover with water, bring to a boil, then simmer until chicken falls apart (2-3 hours).
• Cool; remove skin and bones, and cut or shred chicken. Add back to broth in stockpot.
• Add hominy to stockpot and keep at a low simmer.
• Fill a saucepan with water 1/2 full.
• Remove stems and seeds from dried chilies.
• Add chilies and garlic cloves to saucepan, along with oregano. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Boil for 15 minutes.
• Let cool!
• Blend chilies and garlic in blender or food processor until it is all liquid.
• Add blended chilies to chicken in stockpot.
• Stir and boil 10 minutes together.
• Ladle into bowls and top with chopped raw onion, cilantro and fresh squeezed lemon.

Steps:

• Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat the oven to 500 degrees F (or heat a toaster oven). Cut a small X through the skin on the bottom of each tomato.
• Put the tomatoes on a small, rimmed baking sheet lined with foil and roast until tender and well charred, 20 to 25 minutes. When they're cool enough to handle, pull off and discard the skin.
• Meanwhile, stem the chiles and cut them open lengthwise with scissors or a knife. Remove the seeds and any large ribs.
• Heat a comal, a griddle, or a heavy-duty skillet over medium-low heat until hot. Toast half of the guajillo chiles, flipping and pressing them down with tongs or a spatula until fragrant and slightly darkened, about 1 minute.
• Transfer to a medium bowl. Repeat with the remaining chiles. Cover the chiles with cold water and soak until softened, about 30 minutes.
• While the chiles soak, toast the garlic and onion on the comal over medium-low heat until just tender, turning the garlic as needed and flipping the onion slices once, until golden-brown with some blackened spots, about 8 minutes for the garlic and 15 minutes for the onion.
• Drain the chiles and put them in a blender along with the tomatoes and any juice, the garlic, onion, cloves, and allspice. Puree, adding up to 1/2 cup water a little at a time as necessary, until very smooth, about 2 minutes.
• In a 6-quart Dutch oven or other heavy-duty pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the puree (it will splatter), reduce the heat to low and fry, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula, until slightly thicker, about 5 minutes.
• Add 1 cup water, raise the heat to medium high, and bring to a boil. Stir in the vinegar, sugar, and 1 tbsp salt.
• Reduce the heat to a simmer, partially cover the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally and adding a little water as needed to keep the sauce more or less at the same consistency, for 30 minutes.
• If you have a gas stove, turn two burners to high and char the poblanos directly over the flame, turning them with tongs as soon as each side becomes fully blackened, about 6 minutes.
• If you don't have a gas stove, char the poblanos on a foil-lined baking sheet under the broiler. Immediately put them in a bowl, cover, and let steam for 15 minutes to loosen the skins. When they're cool enough to handle, peel, seed, and slice them into 1/4 x 2-inch strips.
• Add the chicken, chicken broth, oregano, and 1 tbsp salt to the pot of chile sauce and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Tie the cilantro and mint together with kitchen string.
• Add the herb bouquet and the hominy to the pot and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through (cut into a piece to check), about 20 minutes. Remove and discard the herbs, then stir in the poblanos and cook until just heated through, about 5 minutes.
• To serve, divide the chicken legs and thighs among warm, large bowls. Ladle the pozole over the chicken. Garnish with the toppings or pass them at the table.