Holiday Pozole Recipe
Having a warm bowl of pozole when it is cold outside is the most comforting feeling.
Smelling the chiles in the blender throughout the house brings back many memories of when my mom would make pozole for my siblings and I. So being far from home has been tough especially when it comes to missing those home cooked meals.
I was raised in a Mexican household where food is a huge part of our culture. For my family, pozole is the most important meal during the holidays. When my mom was younger my grandma would make pozole during the winter time.
Recently my mom gave me the family recipe and I really enjoyed making it. There are two types of pozole; red and green. I have tried both but personally my favorite is red pozole because of how much it reminds me of home. It’s also an affordable meal that can feed many.
Red Pork Pozole
5 servings
Ingredients:
Soup
- 3 – 4 lbs pork shoulder boneless or with bone, cubed 2 to 3 inches
- 11 cups water
- 5 dried guajillo or ancho chiles, or a combination of both
- 2 cups of warm water in a bowl
- Salt to taste
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 (29 ounce cans) of white hominy
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- ½ of an onion
To garnish (Optional) :
- Shredded cabbage
- Thinly sliced radishes
- Chopped avocados
- Wedges of lime
- Cilantro
- Onions
- Tostadas
Directions:
For this pozole recipe you are going to start off by cutting your pork shoulder into 2 and 3 inch cubes, the fat and bone on your pork is what is going to give your pozole flavor so don’t cut around it. You can include some and/or throw the rest away.
In a medium pot, add enough water to cover the meat. Cover the pot and place it over medium heat, bringing it to a boil. You want the meat to be somewhat cooked before putting the hominy and chile in, so give it a stir and make sure the cubes are brownish before you add the hominy.
Once the meat has browned, open your 2 cans of hominy and add.
Cut the stems of the chiles and take the seeds out. After that, put the chiles in a bowl with 2 cups of warm water.
Once they have sat in the bowl for 5 minutes, add the chiles to a blender with half of the water you used to soak them in, a quarter of an onion and a pinch of salt. Blend for 2 minutes.
Once blended, grab a strainer and hold it over the pot. Strain the blended chiles into the pot. If the pozole is not red enough, add some water to the strainer to help get more of the color of the chiles out.
After chiles and hominy has been added, cover the pot on low heat. Let it boil for 30 – 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and make sure the meat is fully cooked and hominy is chewable.
Bowl up your pozole and garnish to taste. Pair up with tostadas and enjoy. My mom has always said that the pozole always tastes best the following day and I couldn’t agree with her more.
