gluten-free · nut-free · soy-free ·

Christmas is just around the corner! And if you haven’t heard, we’re doing 12 days of vegan Christmas recipes—that’s 1 Christmas recipe a day leading up to Christmas! Follow along with us on Instagram to get notified as each one is posted!

First up is an absolutely gorgeous Mexican pozole rojo (red pozole). Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup made with hominy corn and usually with meat of some sort (depending on the region). Today, however, we’re making a completely vegan version that is not only meatless but SO rich in flavor your friends and family won’t even think there’s anything missing.

Instead, we’re adding delicious roasted oyster mushrooms that not only look beautiful swimming in that deep red broth but taste incredible! They’re meaty and give the dish that fantastic umami flavor that we all love.

This is such a great soup recipe to make for Christmas since it might be something a little different than grandma’s soup and there’s no pasta in it. In fact, this recipe happens to be gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free. Everybody’s going to love it!

Scroll down for the recipe and video ↓

 

Hominy Corn

Wo what is hominy? It’s a giant heirloom corn variety, traditionally named cacahuacintle. The name comes from the combination of two náhuatl words, cacáhuatl and centli, meaning corn and cacao, mostly because of its size. Hominy is mostly used to make pozole, but sometimes also used for tamales, sweets, drinks, or street food.

Usually, you can buy pre-cooked hominy for pozole in Mexico since the cooking process is quite long, but here in the US it’s harder to come across. You can try searching your local Mexican food store for some but if not, you’re most likely to come across dried hominy. We found some in Whole Foods, so we thought we’d make it from scratch so that we can show you how it’s done.

Don’t be intimidated by the cooking time! It does take quite a while to cook the corn because it’s large, but we promise it’s worth it. The most important thing is that you soak it in 10X its weight in water the night before so that it has plenty of time to soften up. This step is critical, otherwise, you’ll end up cooking it for hours!

Scroll down for the recipe!

 

CHILI SAUCE

What makes pozole so delicious and complex in flavor is the chili sauce that it’s seasoned with. It’s made by toasting dried chilis (a very important step!) and cooking them in water with onion, garlic, and oregano, then blending it all up into a smooth sauce. We’re making ours with guajillo and ancho chilis, which are both tasty and that’s what gives the pozole the deep red color.

Note: Your chili sauce might or might not be spicy, depending on your dried chilis. It’s a surprise every time!

On top of that, pozoles are usually served with 1 or 2 chiles de Arbol (these really are spicy) on top for a spark of heat. If you like heat, definitely include them, but if not, you can omit them.

 

Watch the recipe video here:

 

Vegan Mexican Pozole Rojo with Roasted Oyster Mushrooms

Serves 16 / Makes 3 liters

Hominy

2 1/2 cups | 340g dried hominy corn, soaked overnight in 20 cups | 5 liters water and rinsed

24 cups | 6 liters Water

1 whole medium white onion, halved

5 cloves | 25g Garlic

2 Bay leaves

Sea salt, to taste

Chili sauce

2 dried Guajillo chilis

2 dried Ancho chilis

2 cups | 440ml Water

1/2 whole | 90g White onion

5 cloves | 25g Garlic

1 tbsp | 1g Dried Oregano

4 tbsp | 44ml olive oil

Oyster Mushrooms

6 small bunches | 2 lbs oyster mushrooms 

2 tbsp | 22ml olive oil

Sea salt, to tase

Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Chiles de arbol

1 tbsp | 11ml Olive oil

6 Chiles de arbol

Sea salt, to taste

Toppings

1/2 medium head Iceberg lettuce, sliced thinly

6 whole Radishes, sliced thinly

1/2 whole White onion, diced small

Dried oregano (optional)

Tostadas (optional)

Vegan sour cream (optional)

HOMINY

1. Clean the hominy by plucking off the top of the grain—the germ—off each kernel with a small pairing knife or a with your fingers. Try to only take off the top so that the kernel is flat on top, but it’s ok if some of the kernel comes off sometimes. The point of this is to open the kernel up so that the water can get inside it and cook through.

2. In a large pot, place hominy, water, onion, garlic, bay leaves. Add a few pinches of sea salt to taste. Bring to a boil on high flame and cook for 2 hours, or until the corn has burst open and is soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

CHILI SAUCE

1. While the hominy is cooking, make the chili sauce. Clean the chilis by cutting them open with scissors and shaking the seeds out (you can keep the seeds to cook with, they have a lot of flavor!), and removing the stem.

2. Toast them by heating up a pan on medium-high heat and pressing them down one by one into the pan using a spatula so that they have the most contact with the heat. You’ll notice they’ll start to release their fragrance and change color slightly. Repeat with all the chilis, remove from heat, and set aside.

3. In a small pot place water, onion, garlic, oregano, and the toasted chilis. Cook for 10 minutes, covered, on medium flame or until the chilis are soft.

4. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a high-speed blender and blend for 1 minute until smooth and there are no chunks left.

5. Heat olive oil in a clean medium pot and set a strainer on top of it. Pour the chili sauce into the pot through the strainer and push it through using a spoon or spatula. Cook for 10-15 minutes and remove from heat.

6. Add a few large spoonfuls of chili sauce to your hominy pot and stir to combine. Taste and add more if desired. Bring everything to a boil and season with salt to taste.

OYSTER MUSHROOMS

1. Preheat oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and palace the mushrooms, with stem, on top. Season with olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Rub the seasoning into the mushrooms so that they’re fully covered.

2. Place them face down on the parchment paper and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.

3. Once cool enough to handle, slice the bottom of the stems off with a pairing knife and set aside for plating.

CHILES DE ARBOL

1. Heat a small pan on low flame and add olive oil and chiles de Arbol. Toast lightly, stirring every now and then until they become fragrant and slightly darker and richer in color. Remove from heat and set aside for plating.

PLATING

1. Use a slotted spoon to take out some hominy kernels and place a large spoonful in each serving bowl. Add broth and top with some roasted oyster mushrooms, a large handful of sliced lettuce, radishes, onion, 1 or 2 toasted chiles de Arbol, and a few sprinkles of dried oregano if desired. Serve warm. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

 

Did you make this recipe? tag us on Instagram @eatogether.co so that we can see it!

 

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