Chicken & Pork Posole with Avocado, Radish, Cilantro & Lime for the International Incident Mexican Breakfast Party

Welcome to this month's  International Incident Party, hosted as ever by our plucky foundress, Penny aka Jeroxie.  Having recently posted machacado con huevos, or Mexican dried beef with egg, I felt a bit silly when I found out that the August theme is Mexican breakfast!  If only I had remembered, I would have saved that post, as that dish is one of my new favorite things. But no matter: That's why they call these things challenges, after all.

So it was back to the drawing board for me. Much as I love eggs, I wanted to try something completely different for my breakfast dish. A bit of research revealed that something I've been been meaning to make for a long time, posole, is sometimes eaten for breakfast in some parts of Mexico. (In fact, a version of the dish was eaten by the Aztecs, though I can't say it was a breakfast dish specifically.) If you're unfamiliar with it, posole, or pozole,  refers to both dried kernels of corn that have been soaked in lime water, and to a stew made with the same. Much like chicken soup or tomato sauce, there are many varieties and ways to make it. I chose to make posole rojo, or red posole, using dried Guajillo chiles.

I will admit, however, that I had my posole for dinner. In fact, I read that this stew is sometimes left to simmer in a pot overnight, and I can well believe it as there are a number of steps that each require some time in order to draw out maximum flavor.

But look at how worth it it is in the end!

First, you must plan ahead and soak the dried posole overnight. I know you can use canned, but the dried will impart more flavor.  I used about 2 cups of dried.

Next, simmer a whole or half chicken - bone in - in just enough water to cover it, along with some chopped onion and jalapeno. Simmer until the chicken is falling-off-the-bone tender. Remove from the stock and shred the meat and set aside. (I took the skin off.)

While that's going on, in another pot simmer the posole, covered, in just enough water to cover it. It's going to take at least a few hours to get tender.

Now it's time to add pork to the chicken broth. I wanted to use a bone-in shoulder roast, but the only ones available the day I went shopping were caveman-sized, so I had to use a boneless pork roast, which I cubed before adding to the stock. Once the pork is tender, add the chicken back in, along with the posole and as much of the water it's been simmering in as you need to cover everything by a couple of inches.

Now here comes the part that makes all the difference. Take 2, 3, or 4 (depending on how much heat you like) dried and seeded Guajillo chiles and cover them with hot water from the stock pot to cover them. For added flavor, also add a few chopped garlic cloves. Once the dried chiles are soft, grind them, along with the liquid, in an immersion blender or food processor. Add this mixture through a strainer back into the stew. This adds heat and an incredible depth of flavor, as well as that beautiful red color to the broth.

And now for the really fun part: choosing the garnishes! This is an essential part of enjoying posole. I chose avocado, cilantro, radish, and lime:

While we didn't ever manage to have it for breakfast, Poppa Trix and I enjoyed this for many, many lunches and dinners.

This is the part where I usually tell you to go check out everyone else's dishes, but first I'd like to ask you to show our foundress Penny your support and vote for her in the Malaysian Kitchen Blogger Summit. If she gets enough votes, she gets to go Malaysia, and we can all live vicariously through her!  Just click "like" under each post - they're really really fun reads, all of them:

Week 1 – Join me for makan at Chillipadi Mamak
Week 2 – A little history in a bowl of Mum’s laksa 

Week 3 – What is Nyonya 

Week 4 - Chef Lagenda and Laksa King 

And now you may go look at what everyone else brought to he Mexican breakfast party. Hopefully I am not sitting in the dark with no electricity thanks to Hurricane Irene, and I'll be able to check out all the posts as well!