Posole rojo - Pork and Hominy Stew with Red Chiles

[The Edifying Conscience]

Posole Rojo - Pork and Hominy Stew with Red Chiles

Don't let the chiles scare you off. I served this for family dinner to non-heat eaters and they loved it. The chiles add flavor and very little heat so long as all of the seeds and ribs are removed.

1 large head garlic
12 cups water
4 cups chicken broth
4 pounds country-style pork ribs
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican), crumbled
2 ounces dried New Mexico red chiles [I used 1/75 oz guajillo and /25 oz chile morita]
1 1/2 cups boiling-hot water
1/4 large white onion
3 teaspoons salt
two 30-ounce cans white hominy
8 corn tortillas
about 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

Accompaniments:
diced avocado
thinly sliced iceberg or romaine lettuce
chopped white onion
diced radishes
lime wedges
dried oregano
dried hot red pepper flakes

Note: Used 1.75 oz of guajillo chiles and .25 ounces chile morita. Make broth night ahead as it tastes much more flavorful, after steeping overnight. Tossed tortilla strips with a tiny, tiny bit of oil and a bit of salt and baked in convection oven at 450 until golden and crispy. Do serve the accompaniements!

Peel garlic cloves and reserve 2 for chile sauce. Slice remaining garlic. In a 7- to 8-quart heavy kettle bring water and broth just to a boil with sliced garlic and pork. Skim surface and add oregano. Gently simmer pork, uncovered, until tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

While pork is simmering, wearing protective gloves, discard stems from chiles and in a bowl combine chiles with boiling-hot water. Soak chiles, turning them occasionally, 30 minutes. Cut onion into large pieces and in a blender purée with chiles and soaking liquid, reserved garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt until smooth.

Transfer pork with tongs to a cutting board and reserve broth mixture. Shred pork, using 2 forks, and discard bones. Rinse and drain hominy.
Return pork to broth mixture and add chile sauce, hominy, and remaining teaspoon salt. Simmer pozole 30 minutes and, if necessary, season with salt. Pozole may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.

While pozole is simmering, stack tortillas and halve. Cut halves crosswise into thin strips. In a 9- to 10-inch skillet heat 1/2 inch oil until hot but not smoking and fry tortilla strips in 3 or 4 batches, stirring occasionally, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer tortilla strips with a slotted spoon as fried to brown paper or paper towels to drain. Transfer tortilla strips to a bowl. Tortilla strips may be made 1 day ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.

Serve pozole with tortilla strips and bowls of accompaniments.