Author: Natalie

My great grandma traditionally made pozole on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve because of how time consuming it was for her to prepare - on those days all of the family stayed late to celebrate and to eat! When she was growing up in Mexico, her mother didn’t have access to canned hominy so she prepared it from the maize kernels, which is how my great grandmother was taught. 

As a child, my mom remembers sitting for hours in anticipation as the maize kernels soaked in lime water. Once the maize absorbed the water, my great grandma washed it multiple times before putting it to boil. After the hominy was half cooked, she added chunks of pork and her chile sauce. The spectacle of making pozole began in the early hours of the morning and was ready to be feasted on by family at around 10 o’clock at night! 

Now, the rest of my family continue to make pozole, but using canned hominy, which in total takes about 2 hours. Just as my great grandmother did, we make pozole on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. In addition to cooking pozole for holidays, I find that nothing is better than a delicious, warm bowl of pozole when I’m feeling under the weather. :)

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Ingredient List:

• 4 lbs of your choice of meat (Chicken or Pork)
• 0.5 lbs of Pepper Dry Guajillo Chiles
• 1 Can of Hominy
• 2 White Onions
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 Bunches of Cilantro
• 3 Jalapenos
• 8 Radishes
• 1 Head of Cabbage
• Salt to taste

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1. Remove stems and seeds from chiles.
2. Soak the chiles in hot water until soft.
3. Meanwhile, place meat in a stock pot. Fill the pot with water. Add whole onion that has been cut in half and cloves of garlic. Add salt.
4. Place chiles in a blender. Add 2 to 3 scoops of chile water, a handful of cilantro, ¼ of white onion, and salt to the blender. Blend ingredients together. Strain paste into a bowl to get separated chile sauce.
5. After straining, add leftover paste back into the blender and repeat the prior step until remaining chiles are blended and strained.
6. Once water is boiling, add the chile sauce to the pot. Add salt. Boil on medium heat.
7. Drain water from the hominy. Add hominy to the pot. Leave the pot uncovered and allow it to boil. 
8. Prepare thinly sliced cabbage and chopped onions, radishes, cilantro, and jalapenos as toppings.

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