Since it is time for the holidays I wanted to write about the traditional dishes that my family makes during Christmas. The reason I wanted to write about Christmas because it is my favorite holiday not because of the presents but because of the food and being able to spend time with the whole family.
How we celebrate Christmas
My family is Mexican and we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. We have a big celebration on Christmas Eve and open our gifts at midnight which is Christmas day. It may sound weird because in America you open the gifts on Christmas morning after ‘”Santa” has brought them overnight.
Christmas Eve
For breakfast on Christmas Eve my mom wakes us up with her Christmas music. After we get we help my dad with make pancakes and banana smoothies. My sister and I take out all the ingredients and mix them together then my dad cooks the pancakes while we make the banana smoothies. It is a great way to start the morning and let me tell you that the pancakes and banana smoothies are delicious!
After that we all start getting ready and start preparing the dinner. For dinner we make three different dishes, we make tamales, carnitas and my favorite pozole rojo. For the tamales we usually make chicken tamales with a green sauce which taste amazing. For the carnitas my uncle is usually the one that makes them outside. Carnitas are just chunks of pork that is fried outside. Then for the main dish we will be talking about in this post is the pozole rojo. My mom is the one that usually makes the pozole for Christmas I asked her for the recipe but she did not know the amount of each ingredients she puts in because she usually just adds the ingredients until she is satisfied. So for the recipe I am going to post is by Charbel on her website https://www.mylatinatable.com/mexican-pozole/
Pozole Rojo Recepe
Picture is from the website https://bowl-me-over.com/authentic-posole/
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of pork cut into medium sized cubes
- 6 guajillo chiles
- 1 can of Hominy
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 tomato
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/2 onion
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 2 bay leaves
Things that go along with the pozole
These ingredients are not necessary but they will make the pozole taste 100 times better!
- Chopped radish
- lime
- chopped lettuce or cabbage
- cilantro
- chopped onion
- chopped jalapenos
- Tortilla chips to eat with
Instructions
- Cook the pork meat in sufficient water (make sure that the pork is covered completely with some extra amount of water) with 1 clove of garlic, 1/4 piece of an onion (not diced), the bay leaves, salt and pepper. Set aside 1/2 cup of the broth from cooking the pork.
- Once the meat is cooked through, remove the bay leaves, onion, and garlic clove, and add the hominy and bring to a boil for 15 minutes.
- Prepare the guajillo chilies by removing the seeds and the stem and boiling in water for 5-7 minutes or until soft. Set aside for the next step.
- Blend the remaining 5 cloves of garlic, the guajillo chilies, the tomato, another 1/4 piece of onion, the cumin, the salt, the pepper, the 1/2 cup of hominy (to thicken the sauce) in the blender until they are completely blended.
- Once the above mixture is blended, strain the mixture and add the strained liquid to the boiling pot with the pork and water. Season with Oregano and add salt to taste.
- Let it boil 15 minutes longer.
- Serve hot, then add the toppings you desire and eat with the tortilla chips. ENJOY! 🙂
Picture from Pozole Rojo de Puerco by Josselin Melara https://www.cocinafacil.com.mx/recetas-de-comida/receta/pozole-rojo-de-puerco/
Typing this recipe down makes me want a hot bowl of pozole. The reason that pozole is my favorite dish during Christmas is because when my mom start making it the house starts to smell amazing! Another reason why I love pozole is because my family usually eats outside during Christmas because we set tables and seats for everyone in the family. When you are sitting outside in the cold with a small fire going the pozole is so much better. You feel the warmness of the pozole as you eat it and that just makes the experience better.
For dessert we usually have a tres leches cake which is so good and a chocoflan which is also amazing. We take the cakes outside and eat a slice of cake with a hot cup of coffee. I can not wait for the the Christmas Eve. It may be different this year because of COVID-19 but we should still keep the holiday spirit! <3
Here is a picture of a Chocoflan and a Tres Leches Cake just incase you do not know what they are. The pictures also have a link to a recipe if you would like to make them. 🙂
This picture and recipe is from Kelly Anthony’s website https://www.theanthonykitchen.com/chocoflan-recipe/
This picture and recipe is from Serene Herrera’s website https://therecipecritic.com/tres-leches-cake/
Sources:
Anthony, Kelly. “Chocoflan Recipe.” October 19th 2019. https://www.theanthonykitchen.com/chocoflan-recipe/
Bowl Me Over. “Authentic New Mexico Posole Recipe.” September 8th 2020. https://bowl-me-over.com/authentic-posole/
Charbel. “Mexican Pozole Recipe.” no date. https://www.mylatinatable.com/mexican-pozole/
Herrera, Serene. “Perfect Tres Leches Cake.” May 31st 2020. https://therecipecritic.com/tres-leches-cake/
Melara, Josselin. “Pozole rojo de Puerco.” June 22nd 2013. https://www.cocinafacil.com.mx/recetas-de-comida/receta/pozole-rojo-de-puerco/
Blog posted By Americus Chavez