Week 42 - Native American

I wasn't sure what to make for the Native American week of the challenge. There aren't a ton of resources on what Native Americans ate in my geographic region and none of the recipes I was finding clicked with me. But the theme for the week wasn't only about what Native Americans ate where you live. It was about honoring Native Americans in all of the Americas. Because of that, I decided to go with the natives of Mesoamerica and make pozole (history on Wikipedia here). 

Although a lot of pozole these days is made with pork, I wanted to use chicken. After all, if the history is correct, the meat used in traditional pre-Columbian pozole was human meat, so any meat variation being made today isn't quite the same as what was used in the old days anyway. I decided to go with this recipe on Allrecipes for easy chicken posole and make some adaptations for the ingredients we had and time (e.g., I really didn't want to take even more time during a long recipe to poach or otherwise cook the chicken just to shred it, so I went with canned for convenience and speed).

The ingredient list for this pozole seems long, but it's actually not a very complicated recipe at all. I used:

- 2 tbsp olive oil ($0.40)

- 1 large onion, chopped ($0.70)

- cloves from 1/3 head of garlic, minced ($0.08)

- 2 12.5oz cans of chicken breast, shredded ($4)

- 1 7oz can of chopped green chiles ($0.78)

- 2 quarts of chicken broth (8 cups of water and 3 large spoonfuls of bouillon) ($0.90)

- 1 bay leaf ($0.10)

- 2 15oz cans of white hominy ($2.78)

spices to taste (and/or to preference):

- dried oregano ($0.10)

- salt ($0.05)

- chili powder ($0.10)

- chipotle chili powder ($0.15)

- cumin ($0.08)

- cayenne pepper ($0.03)

- ground coriander ($0.10)

garnishes:

- 1 small white onion, finely chopped ($0.28)

- handful of cilantro leaves, finely chopped ($0.40)

- handful of radishes, thinly sliced ($0.25)

- splash of lime juice ($0.05)

The original recipe had measurements for the spices, but I didn't really measure them out, just used about how much I thought it would need to be well-seasoned and then added some more to taste later on when I added the hominy. The primary spices to use are the chili powders, as those will add a lot of flavor and heat.

The total for the dish came out to approximately $11.33. It would probably have been less if I had just poached the chicken breasts instead of using the cans, but that would have added more time on to the already 2 hour long process. Also, I think I could have gotten cans of hominy cheaper when on sale or in other stores, but I went to our neighborhood market instead of shopping around since we just needed to get it that afternoon. In the end, $11 for dinner for 2 plus leftovers really isn't that bad.

The simple steps for making the pozole were:

1. Heat olive oil in deep skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and later garlic, cooking until softened.

2. Add chicken to skillet and once cooked through, the green chiles.

3. Add chicken broth (water and bouillon), the bay leaf, and all the spices in the ingredient list. Cover, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and cook for 90 minutes. Stir occasionally.

4. Add hominy and additional spices (if needed, to taste) and cook until hominy is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

That's it. Very, very simple to make. Just takes a lot of time since it simmers for almost 2 hours in total. But during some of that cooking time, you can prepare the garnishes. There was no way I could get a ripe avocado since I only decided to make the pozole the night before, so I just went with some thinly sliced radishes and a combination of finely chopped onion and cilantro (with a splash of lime juice). I made these as soon as I started the soup on its simmering journey, so they got to chill in the fridge for nearly an hour while we waited for everything to finish.

I was a little worried about this dish since I don't have the best track record with flavorful soup (see: Cuban black bean soup and pumpkin chili), but I added a ton of seasonings during the cooking process this time which kept it from being too bland. This was a very healthy soup and also filling due to all of the soft and starchy hominy. I may need to stock up on more hominy because I really liked it in this soup and now want to use it more. Everything actually came together really well, and the only improvement to make would probably be in the garnishes. Next time I'll buy a lime so we can squeeze on some fresh lime juice before eating, and also try to get an avocado in advance so we can have some sliced avocado too. Overall, this was just a really great combination of ingredients, and I would definitely make this again.