Pozole rojo
A deep red, gently spicy pork and hominy stew that mostly simmers on its own, with crunchy cabbage, radishes and lime piled on top.
- 165 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.95 a serving
- 650 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 2½ lb pork shoulder, boneless
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 white onion, halved
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled, divided
- 8 dried guajillo chiles
- 3 cans canned white hominy, 15.5 oz cans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced
- 6 radishes, thinly sliced
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tsp salt, divided
- 6 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp dried oregano, Mexican oregano if you have it
- 1 tsp ground cumin
Each serving has about 650 calories, 38 g protein, 46 g carbs and 35 g fat, and costs about $2.95 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No green cabbage? Red cabbage or coleslaw mix works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cut the pork into 2-inch chunks, off any thick pieces of fat, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Wash your hands and the board.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
Dolly’s tip: Leave the thin streaks of fat. They melt into the broth and keep the pork tender.Put the pork, broth, water, one onion half, 4 garlic cloves and the bay leaves in a large pot and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Dolly’s tip: Gray foam rises in the first few minutes. Skim it off with a big spoon for a clearer broth, or leave it; it does no harm.Turn the heat to low, cover with the , and 1½ hours, until the pork is .
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Fork-tender. Fork-tender means cooked until a fork slides in with almost no push. It’s how you know potatoes, carrots or slow-cooked meat are soft all the way through.
How you’ll know: The fork slides in and out easily, and meat pulls apart with very little effort.
Low heatTimer: 90 min
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
While it simmers, snip the stems off the chiles, shake out the seeds, and toast the chiles in a dry over medium heat about 30 seconds a side, .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Pull them the moment they smell toasty and turn a shade darker. A blackened chile makes the whole pot bitter.Put the chiles in a bowl, ladle 2 cups of the hot broth from the pot over them, and let them soak 15 minutes, until soft.
Timer: 15 min
Blend the chiles and their soaking broth with the last 2 garlic cloves, the oregano, cumin and 1 teaspoon salt for a full minute, until very smooth.
Dolly’s tip: If you still see flecks of skin, pour the sauce through a strainer into the pot and press it through with the back of a spoon.When the pork is tender, fish out the onion and bay leaves, stir in the chile sauce and hominy, and uncovered 30 minutes.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 30 min
Meanwhile, the other onion half and set out the cabbage, radishes, limes and cilantro in little bowls.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Break up any big pieces of pork against the side of the pot with a spoon, taste the broth, and add salt until it tastes rich and round.
Ladle into big bowls, pile on the onion, cabbage, radishes and cilantro, and finish with a good squeeze of lime.
Dolly’s tip: Pozole tastes even better the next day. It keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes for 3 months; keep the toppings separate.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
