Pozole Rojo Recipe
This Pozole Rojo is restaurant delicious (or better!), accidentally healthy, feeds a crowd (or great to freeze) and is layered with complex flavor. It’s made with juicy shredded, pork, earthy dried chiles, hominy (like giant corn kernels), fire roasted tomatoes, tangy green chiles, aromatic onions and garlic all topped with contrasting, cool, crunchy toppings of shredded cabbage, radishes, cilantro, lime, and avocados. This pozole recipe is warm and comforting, hearty, savory and practically hypnotic. It also makes fabulous leftovers (tastes even better the next day!) for a sensational make ahead meal of lunch through out the week.
Ingredients
Instructions
STEW
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Whisk the pork seasonings together. While the pork is still on the cutting board, pat the pieces dry then rub pork all over with the seasonings, set aside. Reserve the bone.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large, (7-9 quart) Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork and brown on all side; remove to a plate. Add the onions and cook until softened, scraping up the brown bits, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ground cumin and sauté 30 seconds.
Add the pork back to the pot followed by the pork bone, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, green chilies, oregano, coriander and bay leaves. Cover to bring to a boil then transfer to the oven. Bake at 300 degrees F until the pork is fall apart tender, about 90 minutes.
CHILI SAUCE
While the pork is cooking, make the chili sauce. Cut the tops off of all the chilies with kitchen shears. Cut chilies along one edge to open like a book; scrape out all of the seeds. Reserve some of the seeds to finish the soup if you want more heat.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and briefly toast until fragrant, about 1 minute on each side. Cover the chilies with enough water so that they aren't touching the bottom of the skillet (careful it will steam a lot). Simmer for 3-5 minutes until chilies are softened.
Remove chilies to blender along 1 ½ cups of the skillet liquid, cocoa powder, sugar and cinnamon. Process until smooth, leaving a corner of the blender open so steam can escape; set aside. If you don’t have a high powered blender, then strain the chili sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, using rubber spatula to push the mixture through.
FINISH SOUP
Remove the pot from the oven and transfer to the stove. Discard bone. Using two forks, shred the pork (I find it easiest to transfer pork to a cutting board using a strainer, shred, then add back to pot). Add the hominy and chili sauce to the pot. Bring to a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with 1½ -2 teaspoons salt and either some reserved chili seeds or cayenne pepper to taste for a spicier soup.
Garnish individual bowls with garnishes of choice.
