It's a No-le to Posole

A couple of months ago I was in the supermarket and came across a can of hominy. I'd heard of it, and knew that it was somehow related to corn, but I never tried it - so of course I bought it. It got tucked away in my pantry, and I came across it again on Friday evening. I wasn't sure what to do with it so I opened the can, hoping to throw it in a salad. Once I opened the can, however, and tasted it, I didn't think it would be good in a raw salad. The taste was great, just like a corn tortilla, but the texture was a bit strange for me, and the very bright white of the hominy was a bit much for my senses. So, I put the hominy in a tupperware, and decided I would deal with it on Sunday.

Fast forward to today. I did a bunch of google searches for "hominy recipes", and the majority of recipes that popped up were for Posole. From what I learned, Posole is a Mexican stew, typically made with pork, but I also found a few with chicken, and a couple of vegetarian options. Since I'm kosher, the pork option was definitely out. We also don't mix meat and dairy, and since I wanted to put cheese on my stew, I decided on a vegetarian version. There were so many vegetarian versions out there, so I just opted to take ingredients from all of them, and create my own.

Henry typically likes strong flavors, and tends to like stews, so I hoped this would be a winner. No such luck. As soon as he saw it, he refused it, and immediately threw a piece of hominy at me (to be fair, he was aiming for the floor, and accidentally hit me...still not so pleased). I then decided to give him challah and dip it in the stew so that he would try the flavor. He immediately took the challah, and then when he got the taste of the posole, he spit it out. He was not falling for my tricks. After a few tries of challah dipped in the stew, I gracefully surrendered, and let him have some honeydew.

I should mention that a couple of hours later, we took Henry's temperature, and realized he had a fever. So, it may be that he didn't want to try something new because he didn't feel well. Unfortunately, I won't be able to try the stew out again later this week since my husband and I actually finished the entire pot (it was really good!). I'm not sure if this tastes at all like Posole, but we were huge fans!

Vegetarian Posole

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon cumin
4-5 turns of the black pepper mill
dash of cayenne pepper (I think I may skip this next time - it was a bit hot for our tastes)
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
15 ounce can hominy, drained and rinsed
15 ounce can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
4 oz can diced green chilis
15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups water
salt to taste
juice of half a juicy lime

garnishes:
shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
chopped fresh cilantro
lime wedges

In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent. Put in all ingredients from cumin to pinto beans. Coat all ingredients with seasonings. Then pour in water. Bring to a boil, and then let simmer for about an hour (I ended up letting it simmer for close to 2 hours because I had the time and I find stews taste better the longer they simmer). Then, add salt to taste and the lime juice. Simmer for about 5 minutes more, and then serve. Top each bowl with shredded cheese, cilantro, and a lime wedge. Enjoy!

Happy and (mostly) healthy eating!