Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Red Pasole

Oh my goodness this soup is so delicious!
We are so lucky to have a great Latin store here in Santo Domingo that carries the ingredients for this soup.  Also having a great friend to teach me how to make it is awesome!
You can cook this a couple different ways.  One is to cook the meat with a pressure cooker first if you have limited time or you can put it all in one pot and simmer it for 2 1/2 hours or until the pork is tender.  Either way it makes the house smell great and is 
a wonderful meal on any day.
I am going to cook the pork with a pressure cooker this time because it's a fun and different way to cook!
If you don't have a pressure cooker then follow the directions to hydrate and blend peppers, add water hominy and meat to the same pot and let it simmer for 2-2 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.

  2-3 lbs. pork with or with out bones (the bones give a lot of flavor) 
8 c. water 
1/4 onion
3 garlic cloves
3/4-1 tsp salt
1 tsp. chicken bouillon

  Hydrate 7 Juajillo peppers (these are not hot peppers and can be found in the Latin food section at the grocery store 
or a Latin market)
1/4 onion
6 garlic cloves
2 c. water

1 tsp oil
pepper mixture, strained
water
1 1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon
1 tsp. salt
1 (29 oz.) can white Hominy, drained (add another can if you want more hominy in your soup)
1 T. Epazote (this is an optional dried herb to put in the Pasole. 
If you can't find it, the soup will still taste great!)


Toppings
Shredded lettuce
chopped onion
dried oregano
sliced avocado
fresh lime (for juice)


Cut pork into large pieces and place in pressure cooker with water, onion, garlic, salt and chicken bouillon.







Place lid on pressure cooker.  When steam stops coming through the safety lock and the inner pin pops up, start timing for 20-30 minute.





  Soon the pressure weight will start to rock. It should have a gentile steady rock so turn your heat to medium to medium-low to keep it at a gentle rock.  The sound of this always reminds me of my mother when she would cook or canned with a pressure cooker....it's a comfort sound! 

While the pork is cooking make the pepper sauce.  These peppers are not hot but add a wonderful flavor and color to the soup.  Hydrate peppers by placing them in a sauce pan and covering with water.  Bring to a boil and and boil 5-10 minutes.   
Remove from heat and set aside.



In a blender place Onion, garlic, peppers and water. 
 Remove stems from peppers before 
adding them to the blender.  This will help in draining the water out of them too.






Blend until smooth.



In a large pot add oil and heat until hot.  Add pepper sauce by straining through a strainer.  Add water to the blender and pour through strainer to finish getting all the pepper sauce through and to rinse sauce out of blender.




Add bouillon and drained hominy into pepper sauce and simmer on low until pork is ready.






When the pork is done and and the pressure cooker has time to release the pressure,(do not take lid off until pressure is gone!) strain pork liquid into pepper mixture.

Remove meat from strainer and place in the pot with pepper mixture.



Add the dried (herb) Epazote if you can find any.  Try looking at a Latin market or the 
Latin section at the grocery store. No worries if you don't have it!

Stir and let soup simmer for 15 minutes and serve it up with the suggested toppings!

I didn't have an avocado the day we made this soup but I highly recommend adding it to your soup!






Stir the toppings in and enjoy a wonderful Mexican soup that is
 sure to please!

Thank you Emma for teaching me some wonderful dishes from Mexico.  
I look forward to our time together in the kitchen.  


© Nancy Rappleye 2012

2 comments:

JoNita said...

We also eat this type of pozole but we like shredded cabbage on top instead of lettuce. Great recipe! :)

Nancy said...

thank you JoNita, that is a great suggestion. This has been one of the most popular recipes on my blog. It helps when you have some one from Mexico show you how to make it too! I love this soup, it is a great change from the normal cream and vegetable soups of winter!