I went for a green pozole as I couldn't resist the allure of cooking with tomatillos, and imagining the acid, the sting, while feeling the comfort of the grain, the hominy.

There’s a few different components to manage and keep an eye on, but I roughly think about it in three parts:

1. cooking the meat and making the broth
2. blending together the sauce part and cooking that (the red or the green of the dish)
3. and then finally when it all comes together in the pot to fuse together

When it comes to the broth, I think the best results are when you cook the raw meat first. You can also use already cooked chicken, but doing it raw adds another layer. And, if you do do this (lol), then you could also make a bone broth if you were to say, cook a whole chicken. As for #3, when it all comes together, the more time it has to cook together, the better, but be mindful, too.

A note on the name

Pozzoli might look like an Italian word given the two zz’s, but it's actually the original Nahuatl word for pozole, which is of course in itself a Spanish word.

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This will make about 6-8 servings.

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Ingredients

• 10-12 tomatillos
• A good lil bunch of oregano. It doesn’t really matter which kind (Mexican or Italian)
• Garlic (4 cloves)
• Poblano peppers (2)
• Serrano peppers (3 to 4, but less if you want less spice, or be mindful of seeds)
• Chicken broth - either make or buy. A mixture of 70% low-sodium and 30% regular works nicely, but you'll still need to add more salt later.
• Chicken
  • Breast (3) with bone or without, adjust quantity accordingly. If for some reason you have too much, you can always set it aside for another dish or freeze it for later.
    • Another meat is possible, such as pork, as is a sans meat (plant-based) option. Folx usually replace meat with a bean but I haven’t tried it myself…yet.
  • Whole chicken, but then shredded and the rest saved for something else
• Hominy grain (roughly 45 to 48oz, strained)
• Cilantro (1/2 cup chopped)
• 1 small white onion, plus extra fresh for serving.

When it comes to the sauce, I usually eyeball the quantities a bit, and know that I’m about there on everything when my blender is nearly packed full.

For serving:

• Red onion, thinly sliced (or only white)
• Cabbage, thinly sliced (personally I only put purple for the color contrast)
• Purple cabbage, thinly sliced
• White onion, thinly sliced
• Limes, wedges
• Radishes, thinly sliced

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Directions

Roughly in three parts: cooking the meat and making the broth (soup), blending together the sauce part and cooking that (the red or the green of the dish), and then finally when it all comes together in the pot to fuse together.

Broth and meat prep

The best broth and more complete pozole will come in cooking raw meat, whether it’s pork or chicken. I prefer chicken, so this recipe will use that. In either case, it’s the same process, though cooking time will vary. Add water and broth to a pot, add meat, bring to a boil, then let simmer until the meat is cooked through. I prefer to cook things a bit on the slower, lower heat side. Once cooked through, turn off the heat, remove the meat and let it cool. Once it cools, shred the meat. While it cool, you can move onto the sauce prep.

At some point early on in this process, open your cans of hominy and drain as much of the liquid as possible. Use a colander and let them rest til we bring them back into the final step.

Green prep

Quarter and seed all the vegetables as necessary. It’s not necessary to cut them finely, but to make the pieces you throw into the blender roughly at similar sizes so that they blend evenly. If you like spice, leave more of the seeds of serrano pepper. I know other folx also like jalapeños as they’re more mild, but I prefer the taste of serrano peppers, and their spice (no shade tho). Throw in the tomatillos, poblano peppers, serranos, oregano, garlic, and cilantro in the blender and blend them for a bit. Then, use some of the broth and blend it all a bit more with the broth til it’s becomes a mid-puree. It’s not necessary to blend it smooth – the next steps will dissolve the puree more, anyway. Once it’s all blended, grab a pan and set it to medium heat. Add in the puree, and let it cook for maybe 10 to 12 minutes, or whenever the green blend starts to brown and become fragrant. Once it does, turn off the heat, and get ready to pour in the puree into the broth.

Simmer and combine all

Alright, ya nearly there! Pour in the cooked puree into the broth, and turn the heat back on to let it simmer or even boil and then simmer. After a few minutes (sorry I don’t time things well at the mo…) add in the hominy! Stir, let it all cook for a bit, and get the shredded meat ready to throw in. After a few minutes again, I add in the meat, and then let it ALL simmer for maybe an additional 10 minutes, or until everyone is too hungry and can’t wait anymore. If it helps for timing, I start to cut the fresh toppings now and use that as my metric for timing. Once I’m done slicing the fresh radishes, cabbages, and so on, then I’m like aight it’s all fused together enough. Personally, soups always taste better the next day once everything has sat for a bit longer. Either way, serve fresh and/or store some, and enjoy!

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Final note

If only cooking for two people, then this amount will last you another few meals. I usually eat it a couple times and store the rest for a lazy day. If cooking for a solid 6 people with generous servings, this will be enough for one go. Alternatively, if you serve this as a side or appetizer in smaller bowls, then you can stretch the amount of servings for more people, which can be cute for a larger gathering or a potluck kinda situation.