Hello party people! Soupletter is back! I have been, for the first time in a year, busy living life and haven’t been able to get a soupletter out the door each week. Instead of weekly, think of Soupletter as a sporadic treat. Kind of like the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip snacking cake (thank you Andie for the gift and Katharine for the raves!) I’m about to eat after this pozole. Last week particularly I was living life because it was my birthday and I was in Mexico City. There, I ate some pozole and was inspired to make one this week for soupletter! But I am very exhausted from travel so I didn’t make it over to the fancy butcher shop and ended up making this vegan one instead since I had a can of jackfruit. I think this would also be good with some meaty mushrooms and some frozen corn. I did top it with real sour cream, but you could switch up the toppings however you like!
This was delicious but I do think that the Chile paste I made (the main flavoring of the soup) was a little tame for me. Next time I would definitely add all of the seeds of the dried chiles and switch up which ones I used. I used guajillo and ancho according to this Rancho Gordo recipe and next time I would definitely use spicier chiles and maybe more of them. It was missing a spicy flavor! But like many of the Asian-inspired recipes I have been peddling lately, pozole is another soup that has most of it’s parts added as toppings at the end, so the veggies stay fresh and crispy and it’s perfect for reheating. I used dried hominy so it is a longish but mostly hands off affair.
Ingredients
1 lb dried whole hominy
dried chilis of your choice (I recommend ancho and guajillo for flavor and pasillo and arbol for spice)
1 white onion, divided
6 garlic cloves
olive oil
1 can jackfruit in brine
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
vegetable broth or better than bouillon
toppings: radish, raw white onion, cilantro, sour cream, tortilla chips, avocado, cabbage, limes
Soak the dried hominy in water overnight. Drain. Then bring hominy to a hard boil with fresh water for 5 minutes, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for a long time, like 2 hours. They won’t be totally soft but that’s okay since they’ll simmer longer in the soup. Salt to taste.
Make the Chile paste: toast chiles in a dry pan, then pour over two cups of hot water and let sit for 15 minutes. Roughly chop half a large onion and put in a blender (or immersion blender cup) along with the garlic. Take the softened chiles and add them to the blender, removing their seeds if you want the paste less spicy, and removing their stems. Add a cup of the water. Blend to make a smooth paste, adding the second cup of water as you go. Then add 2 tablespoons oil and blend again.
In your soup pot, heat some olive oil. Then add the other half of the onion, diced, and the can of jackfruit, drained. After 6-8 minutes, add the chili paste, bay leaves, oregano, salt, and cook for a few more minutes. Add hominy, a cup or two if it’s cooking water, and veggie broth—4 cups? Or to whatever volume of soup you want. Simmer for another 30 minutes or so, until the hominy is soft but still chewy/bouncy.
While the final simmer is happening, prepare your toppings! Chop them.
Taste the soup and stir in final seasonings: salt, lime juice, a vinegary hot sauce like tabasco.