Poz-Ole’!
 |
| Photo from finecooking.com |
After a long, dull week in the office, nothing excites a Friday evening better than a spicy dish. It’s always a good idea to have a few fiery foods in your repertoire for those times when you feel like you could really take on the heat. Indian or Thai foods are usually satisfying choices to subdue a peppery hankering, although, ironically, the feisty ingredients common in these cuisines do anything but quell the taste buds; but, traditional Mexican fare puts up a good fight for fiery goodness too.
Pozole (pronounced poh-soh-lay) is a spicy Mexican stew that, while often made with chicken, pork, or even shrimp, always contains hominy (see my previous post from August 18 on hominy). Roasted tomatoes, onions, chili peppers, and aromatic herbs and spices simmer for hours on end with the meat and hominy to create a robust, heart-warming stew.
Knowing the Fine Cooking fanatic that I am, please indulge me for the time being. The newest edition of the magazine, Dec. 12/Jan. 13, was delivered to my mailbox and I immediately delved into the pages like it were a best-selling novel. I opened right up to the center spread where mouth-watering photos of pozole rojo con pollo (red pozole with chicken) tantalized my culinary fantasies and I began reading fervently. I was determined to make this delicious stew, so using the ingredients I had on hand, and purchasing a few others to stand in for those called for in the recipe, I prepped away.
The multi-stepped recipe first calls for the preparation of the red chili sauce, whereby tomatoes, onions, garlic, and dried chili peppers are roasted or fire-charred and then pureed with cloves, allspice, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Since I had leftovers of my homemade, thick marinara sauce, which includes onion, garlic and tomatoes, I used this essentially “pre-made” base for my chili sauce. I could not find dried guajillo chili peppers at the grocery store, so I substituted dried whole chili d’arbol. Heat equivalency? I have no idea, but both are definitely very spicy. I reduced the amount of the dried chili peppers called for in case the variety I selected was far spicier than the original recipe suggestion.
Once the chili sauce for the pozole is made, the dish can be completed. The stew calls for roasted poblanos, which after being roasted or charred over a fire, are peeled of their tough skin, de-seeded, and sliced. The thought of biting into a large chunk of a spicy pepper did not appeal to me, so instead of chopping the roasted poblanos, I pureed them into my chili sauce base, along with the vinegar, sugar, salt, allspice, cloves, and my tomato sauce. Then, while the chili sauce was simmering on the stove, as the recipe instructs, I roasted whole chicken breasts in the oven, simply dressed with salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Although the recipe calls for chicken thighs and drumsticks, which braise in the pozole, I much prefer white meat over dark meat. I hand-shredded the chicken breasts and added the meat to the pozole, along with water, chicken stock, dried oregano, and hominy. I did not have fresh cilantro in my kitchen, so in its place I used its dried form, and I also had neither fresh nor dried mint, so I omitted the mint all together.
Even with my moderate changes to the recipe, the final pozole was absolutely fabulous. Yes, it was incredibly spicy, so much so that tissues needed to be kept nearby to control my runny nose, but the stew had a superbly rich depth of flavor. I served the stew with warmed corn tortillas and diced cool, creamy avocado to alleviate the palate.
I would recommend giving this recipe a try, as it can certainly be modified to accommodate your taste buds, reducing or increasing (if you can handle it) the amount of heat. You can follow the recipe exactly, or experiment with the few changes I made. Either way, you will, without a doubt, thoroughly enjoy this Mexican treasure. Check it out at this link below: