Pozole Negro

Pozole is a Mexican soup that always includes corn and usually has chicken and beans too. It’s one of the homeliest staple dishes of Mexico with countless variations.

This version of pozole is hearty, filling and full of flavour without being overly spicy (my kids loved it!). There are a few special Mexican ingredients which you can easily buy as a ‘pozole pack’ from my friends at Poblano. Enter the coupon code ‘DANIVALENT’ on check out for 10% off!

I’ve also given alternatives in the tips which mean you can make this dish very simply.

I was steered towards this particular recipe when I visited Thermomix Mexico and chatted to the lovely Ezequiel, as you’ll see in this video.

Serves: 4
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Method

1. Place half the onion, one of the garlic cloves and half the oil into mixing bowl. Chop 5 sec/speed 4.5.

2. Add the chicken and cook 12 min/110°C (230°F)/speed soft. Shred the chicken 8 sec/Rev/speed 4. Set chicken aside.

3. Add the remaining onion, garlic and oil, the tomatoes and the chillies. Chop 5 sec/speed 5.

4. Add the huitlacoche and cook 12 min/120°C (250°F)/speed soft, with MC removed.

5. Add the beans, 700 grams (25 oz) of the water, the salt and oregano. Blend 20 sec/speed 10.

6. Place corn into the Varoma dish and set Varoma in position. Cook 40 min/Varoma/speed 1. Remove Varoma.

7. Add remaining 300 grams (11 oz) water, the cooked corn and reserved chicken and cook 5 min/100°C (212°F)/Rev/speed 2.

8. Serve hot, garnished with radishes and lettuce, and with lime and totopos on the table.

Tips

• The specialist Mexican ingredients can be purchased at specialist grocers and online. Our friends at Poblano have put together a ‘pozole kit’ with all the Mexican ingredients you need. The leftover corn and huitlacoche can be frozen; the chillies keep for ages. If purchasing elsewhere, don’t worry too much if you can’t get the exact chillies (see next Tip too!)
• The original recipe calls for two different types of dried chilli, pasilla or guajillo and morita. You can also substitute with 60 grams (2 oz) chipotle in adobo, tinned chillies in a tomato and spice sauce that can be found more widely in delis and foodstores.
• Huitlacoche is a fungus that can infect corn. It’s a good thing! It’s highly prized, like truffles. Think of it like a corn-mushroom mash-up! If you can’t source huitlacoche, add 200 grams (7 oz) mushrooms instead at step 3 with the chillies.
• Pozolero corn (also known as white hominy) is a white, firm, starchy corn. You can purchase it tinned. If you can’t find it, you can use two fresh cobs of yellow corn and cook at step 6. Reduce cooking time to 20 minutes, remove Varoma, and slice kernels from cobs before adding to pozole at step 7.

Variations

• Substitute pork for the chicken.
• The radish and lettuce are traditional garnishes but you can also put sliced onion, chilli powder or fresh chilli or avocado on the table for people to add to their own bowl.

More about this video

I just loved my time in Mexico and had the most amazing experience exploring the culture and food with the help of top Mexican chef Edgar Nunez. Want to share my experience? Let’s go Exploring Mexican Food together.

Want more Mexican recipes and some traditional Mexican music? I’ve got you sorted.

• If you’re thinking Mexican, you need to know about this super-easy Chicken Tinga.
• Make Mexico’s Bread of the Dead, delicious Pan de Muerto.
• Check out my Mexican Entertaining page.
• Listen to me talking Mexican food on the radio.