A Taste of Jalisco!....Vegan Pozole

This recipe has been on my list since we moved to "little mexico" in August.  For obvious reasons, I chose to wait until it was cold out and my body was craving something warm, hearty and comforting.  Who the heck wants a booming stew in the summer?  Not I!!!!

Traditionally, this Spanish/Mexican dish contains pork.  Not like I could imagine what that would taste like, but for me, this recipe was not missing a thing.

The basis of the dish is White Hominy (Maize or Pozole Blanco).  You can find this in the canned aisle of your grocer- don't be discouraged if it is written in Spanish, it is all the same! 

The other "secret" ingredient?  Dried guajillo peppers!  Don't fret if you cannot find them.  Ancho peppers would be great as well, or even the more popular, poblano pepper.  I obsolutely adore the dark, rich, smokey flavor of the guajillo though.  Definitely adds another dimension to the stew!


And, here is a  pretty cool and interesting fact about hominy: (and I use this term loosely because it is definitely a nerdy thing to call "cool") It is actually white corn that has been soaked in an alkali solution that removes the hull and germ from the corn, and in return, puffs up much larger and allows our bodies to digest it much easier.  Ever realize that your body never really digests the corn you eat at your summer BBQs?

Vegan Pozole

Ingredients:

1 29 oz can hominy (drained and rinsed)

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 yellow onion chopped

1 carrot peeled and chopped

1 green bell pepper seeds removed and chopped

1 c beans (either black beans, kidney beans or whatever you have on hand)

6 dried guajillo peppers, seeds removed

2 garlic cloves minced

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper
s+p

1 tbsp evoo

Directions:

In a pot, bring water to a boil and add in guajillo peppers.  Once boiling, turn off stove and let peppers soak for 20 minutes.  This allows the peppers to rehydrate.  Once done, add guajillos, about 1 c of the liquid they soaked in and canned stewed tomatoes in blender and blend until smooth.  This will be the base of the stew.

Heat evoo in large pot and saute garlic, onions, carrots and bell peppers for about 5 minutes.  Add in the soup base (above) and turn heat on high until bubbles, then lower to med temp.  Add in the hominy, beans and all the spices listed above.  Season more to taste and cover on low temp for about 20-30 minutes.  

Serve with lime wedges, cilantro and corn tortillas.  It's fiesta time!