Remember back in March, we held our second progressive dinner on our street and it happened to fall right smack in Earth Hour? Our course was the appetizer and I chose to make Sopa Azteca or Tortilla Soup. The soup was a resounding success, full of flavour, colour and texture, but I did the unthinkable — I completely forgot to record my recipe which worked out to be a hybrid of Rick Bayless’s Sopa Azetca and a recipe that my good friend Barb of Profiteroles and Ponytails posted about some time ago!
Cinco de Mayo was just a few weeks ago and I thought it’s a perfect time to recreate this wonderful soup, before the weather starts getting too hot to enjoy soup. There is a bit of prep work, but once it’s all done, you pop it into a slow cooker and forget about it. I would even suggest you make it the day before you want to serve it because it’s just that much tastier the next day.
Sopa Azteca (Tortilla Soup)
Serves 4, dinner portions
Ingredients:
- 100 g onions, coarsely chopped
- 3 large cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
- 2 small smoked dried haberno chili peppers, seeds removed (haberno is hot)
- 1 large pasilla chili pepper, seeds removed (pasilla is much more mild)
- 4 coriander stems with roots (rinsed well)
- 2-3 epazote stems (I could only find dried, you could probably use a bay leaf instead, but remember to remove it or omit it entirely)
- 800 mL strained tomato purée (I prefer low sodium)
- 2 L low sodium chicken stock
- 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp coriandre
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups frozen corn (or fresh on the cob BBQ’d and kernals cut off)
- 1 small whole wheat soft tortilla shell
BBQ’d Chicken or Turkey Breast (omit if you are using a previously roasted whole chicken)
- 400 g skinless, boneless chicken or turkey breast or 1 previously roasted chicken
- 1 dried haberno pepper, seeds removed
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- pinch of sugar
- 1 tsp salt
Avocado Garnish (or use guacamole):
- 1 small avocado
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- juice of one lime
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves
- 2 green onions, roughly chopped
Other Garnishes:
- 4 tbsp low fat yogurt
- 4 tbsp shredded Mexican melting cheese (like Chihuahua or mozzarella)
- 1 lime cut into wedges
Directions for the Soup:
- Prepare your slow cooker by preheating it. Add the tomato sauce and chicken stock to the slow cooker; add the dried epazote and cilantro stems and roots.
- If you are using a previously roasted chicken, remove all the tiny bones and add it to the slow cooker, covering with the liquid.
- Add the seeded, dried chilli peppers (if you prefer less heat, put these peppers into a cheese cloth bag and tie off).
- Add the onions and garlic and cocoa, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika and coriander into the tomato sauce and stir well. Add 1 cup of corn.
- Cook on a medium low setting for 3-5 hours.
- Remove the woody stems and roots of the cilantro and epazot and discard, blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve to remove all the corn husks return to the slow cooker and add the other cup of corn. Keep warm until you wish to serve.
Directions for the Chicken or Turkey (omit if you are using a previously roasted chicken):
- Combine everything for the rub but the chicken or turkey in a dedicated coffee grinder for spices and grind until it’s a fine powder.
- Remove any bits of fat or skin from the chicken or turkey and completely coat with the dry rub. Refrigerate while soup is cooking.
- BBQ (with or without smoke) until the internal temperature is 74°C or 165°F. Set aside for 10 minutes and then using a fork, tear bite size pieces off. If you’re not going to use it right away, refrigerate and reheat when ready to use.
Directions for the Avocado Garnish:
- Peel and chop the avocado into half centimetre cubes (1/4″).
- Combine with the garlic, lime juice, cilantro and green onions and stir well.
- Refrigerate until serving.
Tortilla Cones:
- Preheat the oven to 175° C or 350°F.
- Lightly brush the tortilla shell with olive oil to prevent it from drying out.
- Using a pizza cutter and a kitchen ruler, cut the tortilla shell into 5-7mm strips (1/4″).
- Join 3 strips together end to end using a bit of water and pressing the strips firmly together.
- Carefully wrap each strip, oiled side in, on the cannoli cones. I found that pressing some tin foil on the tips prevented them from unraveling.
- Bake for about 10 minutes turning once. You are aiming to dry out the tortilla into a crisp, cracker cone.
- When finished, allow to cool for a minute and gently pry the cone from the cannoli mold. Reserve for presentation.
Soup Assembly:
- Reheat the soup and chicken/turkey separately until piping hot. Ladle a generous amount of soup into each bowl, if using BBQd chicken or turkey breasts, shred into bite sized pieces and pile the chicken/turkey in the centre. If using the whole pre-roasted whole chicken, remove from bones and shred and pile into the centre of the bowl. Add a tablespoon of the avocado mixture and a tablespoon of yogurt. Sprinkle a tablespoon of the grated cheese over the hot soup and add the tortilla cone last to stand in the centre.Serve immediately with a wedge of lime.
Serving suggestions:
- Serve with Jalopeño corn bread.
- Instead of fussing with the tortilla cones, just toast the sliced tortilla strips until crisp and serve piled in the centre like a Tee-Pee.
[…] served it with this Sopa Azteca and it was very […]
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That’s how you made those cones! What a great idea Eva. I know I’ve said this before, but your creativity ceases to amaze me. I’m going to have to make those sometime this summer. They are just too impressive not to. 🙂
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I remember falling in love with those beautiful little cones the last time I saw them – it’s nice to see a clearer photo of them now. They look so delicate and skilfully made. I’m sure I’d break them with my giant sausage fingers if I tried myself, lol!
Love the sound of the soup as well – I bet the flavours are so complex!
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You make me laugh Charles but it’s likely true that the cones need a delicate touch.
The soup was fantastic and I find myself craving the flavours again.
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Your tortilla cones are brilliant….giving me complex. Beautifully created and presented Eva.
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Thanks Minnie, you can make this soup much simpler without the cone, but as I mentioned to another person, you really need the crunch, so a baked tortilla shell crumbled into the soup would do the trick.
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Thanks for your kind words, Eva.
PS…your soup is just plain gorgeous. LOVE the garnish. xo
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Thank you kindly Liz, I’m very flattered.
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Soup hardly ever looks like art. Stunning presentation Eva. It’s like a mexicorn (mexican unicorn).
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I like your sense of humour Genie, and thank you kindly.
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Your presentation of the tortilla is so interesting Eva! And I wish we lived closer to you because your dinner parties always sound so fun 😀
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I have often wished the same thing Lorraine because your theme parties are to die for! Thank you for your lovely words.
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What a wonderful, flavorful and substantial soup. I love anything with cilantro + avocado and the tortilla curls are such a fun and whimsical touch!
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Thank you kindly SM, the also added a lovely crunch to the soup.
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A lot of thought and work went into your dish. I know your guests must have enjoyed the soup.
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Thank you very much Karen, the effort was well worth it in the presentation. The soup itself has many complex flavours and depth linger on. It a bit on the spicy side so the avocado and the yogurt or sour cream help with that.
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What a gorgeous soup! We completely forgot about Cinco de Mayo this year… I love making Mexican foods and the occasion is a good excuse to do so. I love the decorative tortillas that you’ve added to the soup!
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Thanks Amber, I can’t lie that they weren’t a bit of a pain to make, but the WOW factor makes it worth it for sure.
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Those cones are awesome Eva! Might actually hold me back from eating the soup for 5 seconds or so. 😉
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How fun! Love the tortilla cones – I’ve never seen that before! Looks delicious!!
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Thank you very much Julie, I searched the net and couldn’t find anything like them either, it was fun to invent. I wanted something that would really WOW my guests and it worked.
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Oh I hadn’t seen this soup before! That’s a whole lots of spices, and the combination of ingredients sounds perfect, you even added cocoa and I wonder what epazote stems tastes like. I am impressed by your tortilla cones, I have never seen these before in my life and that’s a great idea to surprise some folks here. Thanks for sharing your recipes Eva! =)
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Thank you kindly Helene, the epazote is said to have a slight gasoline flavour although I didn’t detect that (perhaps the dried version is much milder). Some cooks suggested substituting Bay leaves instead. And thank you for asking this question because it made me look it up and subsequently found that it is also used medicinally to reduce the intestinal gas that occurs with a diet rich in beans.
The cone tortilla is indeed a lovely surprise, although I must warn you, it’s a bit finicky. The first time I made them I lost about 25% of them breaking and not freeing from the cone, but the second time I had 100% success — practice makes perfect.
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Ok, so I absolutely love the flavors in this soup and, let’s face it, those conic spiral tortillas are truly amazing!! Now, I just have to get over the time factor involved and make this baby! (I know it’s worth it, I’m just one of these let’s get the job done quickly in the kitchen kind of gals… relative priorities you know?) but this one is really tempting me Eva. Love.
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Thanks so much Kelly, the original recipe from Barb is equally as flavourful but didn’t have the depth that this one does (the smoked chili peppers), you could just throw everything into the slow cooker and leave it for several hours. I would however recommend BBQing the chicken as it does add more of the smoky flavour. My first tortilla soup I just baked the strips flat, or you could just bake a whole tortilla and crumble it into the soup for texture.
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Love , love , love your tortilla cone idea. It takes your dish from a great dish to fantastic presentation too. Have a great weekend.
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Thank you for your very flattering words Bam, I do hope you have a lovely weekend too.
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Those tortilla top hats really put this over the top. Looks sensational.
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Thanks Greg, I live the height it adds to the presentation and the crunch to the texture.
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It’s not a North American trait, but those of us with a European background know that the tastiest dishes take time and can’t be rushed. Eva, this soup looks amazing.
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Thank you Zsuzsa, if you love the poignant flavours of Mexican food this soup is a must, and with low fat yogurt it’s not that unhealthy either and surprisingly filling with the chicken. The avocado can be omitted, but I’d rather reduce the amount instead since it adds the creaminess to the soup.
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The soup sounds delicious but the presentation is truly exceptional. Like so many of the things you do. 🙂
I’ve never heard of haberno peppers though … did you mean habanero?
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Thank you Maria, you are very flattering. Apparently spelling is not one of the things I do well ;-)!
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No biggie. I’ve got your editing back, Eva. 🙂
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Thanks Maria, I really do appreciate it.
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That is the prettiest presentation ever my friend! A delicious meal made even better 🙂
Thanks for the pictorial!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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I love those tortilla cones!! The soup looks definitely worth the effort!
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Eva, when I see your tortilla cones I’m starting to think I’m a particularly lazy and unskilled cook. They look sensational on this soup! If you had written it was a photo of a fancy restaurant dish, no one would have doubts. Judging from the look and ingredients, the soup must be awesome too.
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Oh my, I’m blushing at your kind and generous compliments Sissi, thank you. You are the last person on earth I would ever think of as lazy or unskilled! I don’t often put so much effort into a dish, particularly soup, and you can bet that I likely won’t again unless I’m having a dinner party.
The flavours are complex and delicious indeed.
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Something else I need to buy – those cones! The presentation of this soup is amazing. I so admire you for making those cones – such a work of art. This is definitely a dish to impress xx
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Thank you kindly Charlie, the soup itself has some lovely complex flavours going on particularly with the smoked chili peppers, but the garnishes are what makes the soup. I’m definitely going to have to make it again.
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Wow!
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Thank you Lizzy.
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G’day! LOVE your presentation, TRUE!
Might have to put your recipe on the list to do! Thank you!
Cheers! Joanne
What’s On The List
http://www.whatsonthelist.net
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Thank you for your lovely words Joanne, I’ll try to check out your blog soon. I love that you have a running list, so cool; I’ve always been a list person, stay tuned for another post about my list.
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