ho! ho! rojo frijole posole

As described in the Tausworthe Winter Holiday Celebration Tradition chapter, Posole Rojo substitutes red chiles for green in the preceding recipe, darkening the color, and deepening the flavor.

It is made by omitting the cans of green chiles and the Poblano chile from the preceding recipe and using the chicken broth to reconstitute dried red chiles, which are then added to the pot.

  • 6 new Mexico dried chiles, stem and seeds removed, broken up
  • 2 cups chicken broth

Put the broken up red chiles in a blender with the chicken stock and blend at high speed until the mixture is smooth and thick. Add to the remaining ingredients. Use some chicken broth to clean out remaining chile slurry from the blender.

Proceed as in the previous recipe.

Guisado Verde y Rojo de Chile en Colores de la Navidad

This recipe* was served at the 2010 Tausworthe Annual Holiday Celebration described elsewhere here, as a replacement for the usual festive Hole Molé Frijole Posole. The purpose was to reduce the carbohydrate content of the meal enough for diabetics like me to take part in fuller revelry of the occasion, and to serve as an after New Year Feast in lieu of the Christmas Posole held in earlier years. Many in attendance avowed that they preferred it over posole.

The astute reader will no doubt recognize the stark similarity between this recipe and that for HMFP. Specifically, I have left out the posole, red and green chiles, and have substituted edamame (fresh baby soy beans) beans for regular ones, because of their lower carbohydrate content.

  • 4 lb pork, cut up in bite-size pieces
  • 1 lb hot pork or turkey sausage, likewise cut up
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 6-8 cloves garlic, diced
  • 2 cups chicken broth, or more to give consistency desired
  • 1 cube vegetable bouillon
  • 2 lb shelled edamame
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 (14-oz) canned diced tomatoes, drained (save juice for other uses)
  • 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 large carrots, diced or julienne
  • 16 oz green chile peppers, diced
  • 1 Poblano chile, julienne
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, julienne
  • 1 red bell pepper, julienne
  • 3 stalks celery, diced
  • 2 oz pimiento, sliced
  • 1 tsp fajita sauce (or use liquid smoke)
  • ½ tsp oregano, leaf, dried
  • ½ tsp thyme, leaf, dried
  • ½ tsp powdered coriander
  • ½ tsp powdered cumin
  • 2 oz cilantro, fresh, chopped
  • 4 oz garlic chives, fresh, chopped (if you have it)

Brown the pork and sausage. Add onion and garlic, and cook until translucent. Add mushrooms, broth, bouillon cube, and tomatoes; cook at low heat for an hour. (This may be prepared ahead of time, up to this point.) Add fresh edamame and diced carrot, then simmer 15 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. If garlic chives (the green tops of the garlic plant) are not available, substitute a clove of garlic, minced, and chopped scallions. If shelled edamame is not available, use canned soy beans, or cooked soy beans (takes extra time), or white cooked beans (increases carbohydrates).

Serve in festive holiday bowls with steamed tortillas on the side. For those who wish to make this into a posole, have a side dish of white hominy available, garnished with cilantro and diced red bell pepper. You may also wish to have a number of the traditional condiments available, such as those listed in the HMFP recipe †.

Since this dish has very little heat, provide an additional assortment of additives, such as chopped Serrano, TabascoŽ sauce, chipotles in adobo sauce, or the typical chile carribe, which is also found elsewhere in this set of recipes †.

Serves 8 to 10 people.