Tags
This is the most amazing soup!! It originates in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, and is so good you crave it even on hot days! It is also gluten and dairy free.
First you start with your stock. Usually when I make this soup it is because I have leftover chicken or turkey, and I always buy meat on the bone to make stock later.
If you are starting with cooked poultry, cut some of the meat off of the bones, otherwise you will cook all of the flavor out of the meat.
If you are starting with raw meat, sear it first for the best flavor, or you can just throw it in the pot, but I recommend taking it out of the stock before all the flavor is gone.
In a large pot, put your
chicken bones
a large onion, skin and all
2 or 3 large carrots, roughly chopped
2 or 3 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
1 tomato
Cilantro (1 T. dried, or a bunch of fresh is always best)
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Black pepper
Salt to taste – - you can always add more salt later
and enough water to cover it all.
Bring this to a boil and then let it simmer on your stove for a few hours on low heat until you know all the good flavor has cooked out of everything and into the stock. Strain the stock, and discard all the bones and veggies.
Sometimes I save some of the meat, but usually I have enough set aside so I don’t have to sort through all the hot, mushy veggies.
Place your strained stock back on the stove. Shred your chicken or turkey that you had saved earlier from its stock bath.
Add:
Chicken/turkey
1 large sliced onion (or 2 if you have a lot of stock)
1 Red bell pepper ( I like red for color, you can pick) sliced the same size as the onion.
1 or 2 tomatoes, sliced
1 jalapeno (optional) remove all the seeds, slice
2 cloves of garlic sliced very thin on a mandolin slicer or very carefully with a sharp knife
Squeeze the juice from at least 2 limes. It should give you over a half cup of lime juice. More is better 
Now, this is kind of cheating, but I always add 1 chicken boullion cube at the end…it brings it all together.
Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer until the onions are tender.
Serve with fresh fried corn tortilla strips as a garnish:
You can buy fresh white, yellow or blue corn tortillas at any grocery store. I always slice them into thin strips, (1/2 inch or so) and drop them into the deep fryer.
You don’t need a deep fryer, just put a couple inches of vegetable oil in a pan and heat it. I don’t use a thermometer, I just test the oil with one of the tortilla strips. If the oil sizzles and bubbles when the tortilla touches the oil, it’s hot enough, if not, try again with a different tortilla strip in a few minutes.
They only need to cook for 30 seconds or so, then remove them from the oil and place on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
This is my husband’s favorite soup, he requests it regularly, even in the hot summer months.
Enjoy!!
Nice job making your own stock. I am too lazy, and I don’t usually have enough hours to devote to it. In fact I just threw out a turkey carcass:( I usually pull apart a rotisserie chicken when I make pot pie, so I will have to try my hand at making my own stock next time.