Pork Pozole Rojo

Sat, 16 September 2023

INGREDIENTS:
For The Soup:
1 kilo Pork Loin
3 litres water
1 head garlic, whole & unpeeled (about 45 grams)
1 tablespoon table salt
20 grams dried Guajillo Chili
10 grams dried Cascabel Chili
2 tablespoons dried Mexican Oregano
1 garlic clove, peeled
830 grams tinned Pozole Kernels/Hominy
For The Garnishes:
Lettuce or White Cabbage, thinly sliced
10 Fresh radishes, thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
4 limes, cut in quarters
Mexican Oregano
For Serving:
Freshly-Made Corn Tostadas
METHOD:
1. Cut the meat in three or four big chunks. Then put it with the water, the whole head of garlic
(unpeeled) and the salt in the pressure cooker and cook for 50 minutes (start timing when the
pressure cooker starts whistling). The meat should be so tender it falls apart.
2. If you don't have a pressure cooker, bring all the ingredients in a large heavy bottom pot to
boiling point and then simmer at medium heat for about 2 hours, the result should be very
tender meat with plenty of stock left. Discard the garlic head and fish the meat out into a board.
Roughly chop the meat (including a bit of the fat) and set aside. Reserve all the stock as this will
be the basis for the soup.
3. While the meat cooks, clean and deseed the dried chilies. Put them into a pot with about 1/2
a little of water and turn the heat onto high. Boil them for 20 minutes before switching the heat
off and allowing the chilies to cool in the water.
4. Drain the chilies and transfer them to a blender or food processor. Add the garlic clove, the
oregano and at least 2 ladel-fulls of the reserved stock. Liquidize the ingredients until you have
a smooth sauce.

5. Pour the sauce into the reserved stock, add the drained pozole kernels and mix well. Turn the
heat on to medium and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes before adding the chopped meat.
Mix well and check for seasoning. The soup should taste a little bit bitter, so don't worry at this
point, just check for saltiness.
6. While the soup cooks, get all the table toppings/garnishes ready. Lettuce or white cabbage,
onion, radishes, limes and very importantly the tostadas. Pozole without tostadas is not the
same at all!
7. Set all the garnishes and the tostadas in the middle of the table and call the troops for dinner.
Serve the soup very hot in deep bowls making sure you include plenty of meat and kernels in
every bowl. Leave space in the bowl for the garnishes. Each person adds the garnishes to their
taste: a handful of lettuce or white cabbage, plenty or radishes, two teaspoons of chopped onion
and lashings of lime juice.
8. Eat the soup hot with plain tostadas rubbed with a bit of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. If you
are daring enough, add a bit of a very hot salsa to your pozole as another garnish or a thin layer
of salsa to your tostada before eating it. Treat yourself!