Mmm… Mexican Pozole Verde! Cecilia Torres, my friend and former student, sent me this recipe for Pozole Verde after returning home to León, Mexico this winter.

Upon finishing her culinary studies at The Natural Epicurean, she got right back to work cooking amazing things in her kitchen, including the creation of authentic Mexican versions of recipes we did in class. They are all incredibly beautiful! Be sure to check out Cecilia’s food pictures on Instagram.

What is Pozole?

Pozole or posole refers to variety of corn with very large kernels (dried or canned) as well as the soup made with it. Perhaps you are familiar with pork or chicken-based pozole soups that are stewed for a whole day or two.

This version of Pozole Verde is fresher, greener, and gets its flavor from pozole corn and the delicious verde sauce made with roasted poblanos, tomatillos, and lettuce. Flavorful ingredients are made fresh to top the soup with, making it fun for kids of all ages to customize their own bowls.

Cecilia’s Pozole Verde

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• Author: Rachel Zierzow
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 90 mins
• Total Time: 2 hours 15 mins
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Soup
• Cuisine: Mexican

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Ingredients

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Soup

• 3 cups dried pozole corn, soaked overnight
• 4 cups vegetable stock or filtered water, or more as needed
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 roasted poblano peppers, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 2 pounds green tomatillo, chopped in halves or quarters
• ½ head iceberg or romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 or 2 xoconostles, peeled and seeded (optional)
• reserved pozole cooking liquid
• vegetable stock or filtered water, as needed
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Toppings

• cooked pozole
• 3 cups mushrooms, sliced and sautéed
• ½ head iceberg or romaine lettuce, shredded
• ½ bunch red radishes, julienned
• ½ yellow or white onion, minced
• 2 avocados, sliced
• ½ bunch cilantro leaves
• 2 limes, sliced into wedges

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Instructions

1. Cook pozole in water or vegetables stock until soft, about 1 1/2 hours. Drain, reserving liquid for soup base. Pozole will be used at the end for garnishing.
2. Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent.
3. Add garlic, peppers, tomatillos, and lettuce and cook until vegetables are soft and bright green.
4. Pour sautéed vegetables into a blender with reserved pozole cooking liquid and more vegetable stock (if needed) to make a creamy soup base.
5. Pour soup base into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
6. Add more vegetable stock to reach the desired consistency of your soup. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Serve toppings in separate bowls with spoons so that each person can serve up a bowl of soup and put the toppings they would like in their bowl.

Variations

1. Sauté cooked, drained pozole in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and chile powder. The result is a beautiful and tasty pozole to garnish the soup with.
2. Use sliced zucchini and 1 seeded serrano pepper in place of some or all of the poblano peppers for a milder version.
3. Pickle thin radish rounds in umeboshi vinegar for about an hour before serving the soup, and use as a topping.

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Here is the the version I made with Nelson at home yesterday. We added zucchini and serrano pepper (as we forgot to buy the poblanos) as well as a little shredded chicken we had leftover from making a chicken stock. It was still amazing! Another thing we tried was to sauté the cooked pozole corn in olive oil with ground Ancho chile and salt. It had a beautiful color and amazing flavor when added to the soup as a garnish.

Here is a photo of Cecilia and I at the Vegan Thanksgiving class we taught together at the Natural Epicurean in November 2016. I miss her so much!