Posole Recipe Blogging

This is one of my favorite things to eat. I was craving it, even though it's hotter than the face of the sun outside. Sopa in August? You betcha! This is a quick way to satiate the craving:

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of pork whatever, chopped into cubes
  
• one 1 lb. bag of pinto beans
• one 29oz. can of Mexican Style Hominy
• six cloves of garlic, minced or chopped
  
• 4 tablespoons of oregano
• 4 chopped up, dried red chili pods (pictured below, you should be able to get them at a grocery store)
• salt to taste
• chopped up cilantro and onions for garnish (optional)
  

Destructions - I mean, Instructions

Clean your table and dump the beans on it. Spend some time sifting through them to look for rocks and other fun things that can get missed by the packagers. As you're sifting, put the good pile into your colander, you'll need to rinse those good after you're done.

Throw the beans into a soup pot with enough water to cover the beans plus an additional four inches. Crank up the heat and let them boil for about two minutes, then turn off the heat and move your attention over to the chilis.

I recommend wearing gloves, those cheap plastic ones would work. You'll thank yourself, especially if you plan to scratch your eyes for whatever reason later on in the day. Take your chili pods and pinch off the dried stem on the end over a place that you can easily clean up. The chilis are full of seeds, which you'll want to discard as best as possible. Chilis get their heat from the seeds and veins that run through the pod.

Once your pods are cleaned out, take a knife and chop them into pieces at least 1/2 inch square. Put them aside and turn your attention over to the garlic cloves, which need to be minced. Once that's done, pull out your pork whatever (doesn't really matter, in my opinion), and cube it into square inch pieces.

This soup takes abit of preparation, but totally worth it; besides, your beans need to sit there for awhile and puff up. Speaking of the beans, now that you've got the rest of the ingredients ready to go, pull them off the stove and dump them back into your colander over the sink so the water can drain out. Rinse them again, then put them back in your pot (there's a method to this madness. I don't know what it is, but this is how I learned). Now that they are back in the pot, fill it up with water, with four inches of depth at the top. Add your oregano, garlic, pork and chilis. Turn on your heat to a medium setting so it can all simmer together. Since I'm really bad about measuring this, add enough salt to it depending on your preference.

Let the soup simmer for at least an hour. Check every once in awhile to make sure there's enough water, add if neccesary. You're making a soup here! After the beans lose their spots and have softened up considerably (check with a fork or spoon) add your can of hominy. Let it all simmer for about fifteen minutes. If the beans need more cooking, let them finish their thing.

That's it!

¡Buen Provecho!