This is such a rich, satisfying soup and people love to add their own accompaniments. We heard the recipe at first from the NPR show Splendid Table and decided to give it a try – having never even had pozole before. It was so delicious its become a staple for the family, especially on a cold windy day. I’ve made several tweaks along the way to the original recipe we found and I think its pretty perfect now. Its good if you have a few spice levels of hot sauce so you can cater to peoples tastes. I love super spicy so I have a habanero sauce I use. For the rest, they love Tapatio in theirs.
Ingredients:
Extra virgin olive oil
2 lbs pork shoulder
1 large yellow onion – diced
6 cloves of garlic – crushed
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
16 sprigs of cilantro – roughly chopped
5 tomatillos
1/4 cup pepitas
1 jalapeno
48 oz canned hominy
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Accompaniments:
Shredded cabbage
Diced avocado
Hot sauce
Mexican oregano
Chicharron or tostadas if you prefer
Preparation:
Cut the pork shoulder into approximately 2” cubes – you don’t have to be precise about this. Sometimes if I can find stewing pork at the store, I just get that and save myself some time.
In a large pot, heat olive oil. Sauté onions and garlic over high heat, adding a pinch of salt to sweat the onions and cook, stirring regularly for 5 minutes. Then add ground cumin and sauté for one more minute. Add cubed pork and season with sea salt, then cook until pork is browned. Then add about 3 liters of water and bring to a boil. Add half of the cilantro and bring to a boil once more. Once boiling, lower heat to bring to a simmer and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. This will make the pork very tender.
In the meantime, clean the tomatillos and trim the jalapeño, removing the seeds. Place the tomatillos and jalapeño into a small saucepan with about 1/2 cup of water. Boil for about 10 minutes, until the tomatillos get soft. Place in blender.
Then place the pepitas in a dry pan and toast until golden brown. Place the toasted pepitas into the blender along with the tomatillos and jalapeno. Add the remainder of the cilantro to the blender and blend until very smooth. Set mixture aside.
Drain and rinse the hominy.
After pork has simmered for 1 1/2 hours, skim oil and foam from the top of the soup.
Add the tomatillo mixture and the hominy and simmer for another 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve with the accompaniments. Yum!
