Chicken Pasole by Guest Chef Brook

I made this recipe from about 15 other recipes I read online. I just geared it to ease and my family’s taste. I am not claiming this is an authentic posole. As for hominy you should be able to find it canned at any local grocery store in the canned veggie aisle. If you prefer to use dried then follow the bag’s soaking and cooking directions and then add to soup as directed in instructions. If you don’t like hominy just use a can of white corn. It will change the flavor but to me it’s all about the red sauce. As for the chiles, I get my dried guajillo chiles from Aldi. This soup can be as spicy or mild as you want depending on what type of chile you use. It would be worth it to go to a Hispanic grocery store and get the chiles and hominy if you can’t find them at your local grocery store. This is so good and very worth the effort. It actually doesn’t take much time or prep to make this really delicious soup. My super picky toddler LOVES this soup (minus the hominy and chicken). This recipe feeds 2 to 3 people.

Ingredients:
2 cooked chicken breasts (cubed or shredded)
32 oz chicken broth
1 15.5 oz cans of hominy, rinsed (or 16 oz bag of dried hominy soaked and cooked)
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
1 teaspoon cumin

Red Sauce Ingredients:
1/4 large onion, chopped in large pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3 dried chiles (either New Mexico red chiles or ancho chiles, which are mild. For more heat use 2 guajillo chiles, which is what I use. Supposedly they are spicier but I didn’t find them spicy at all.)

Red sauce:
Wearing protective gloves (I don’t do this I just wash really well after I touch them and I don’t touch them once they’ve been soaked), discard stems from chiles. In a dish that the chiles can lay flat in, combine chiles with boiling-hot water. Soak chiles in 1 1/2 cups boiling water for 30 minutes, turning them after 15 minutes. Puree onion, chiles and soaking liquid, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 teaspoons salt in a blender until smooth. (Don’t take a big whiff of it at this point because it’s potent!)
 You can use this red sauce for enchiladas also.

In a large soup pot add the chicken stock, canned or cooked dried hominy, cooked chicken, cumin, and oregano. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to gently simmer for 15 minutes. Then add red sauce to mixture 1/2 cup at a time until taste is to liking (I use all the red sauce). Simmer for 15 more minutes stirring occasionally.
 Garnish individual bowls.

Garnishes are where the soup really gets GREAT! Pick and choose from cabbage, radish slices, chopped cilantro, lemon or lime wedges, and fried corn tortilla strips (or you can use tortilla chips). I always use cilantro, lots of fresh lime juice (the more lime the better) and fried corn tortilla strips.

Fried corn tortilla strips - Stack about 4 or 5 tortillas and cut in half then half the other direction so you have triangles. Then cut strips from the triangles and fry in a pan with hot oil.