This wonderful soup was introduced to me by my friends Jeff and Christy many years ago. Christy graciously shared her recipe, and I’ve been making the soup ever since. Over the years, I’ve tasted many tortilla soups in many places, including all over Texas and even in Mexico, but this recipe still makes the best I’ve ever tasted.
Just
for giggles, I’ve researched other tortilla soup recipes, and they are as
varied as the coral on a Cozumel reef.
All sorts of things, such as black beans, bell peppers, corn, and others
that I don’t use show up in some of these recipes, as well as various
techniques in cooking the chicken, achieving the broth, etc. I’ve tried some of those versions, and I will
emphatically state that this exact recipe is the best that I have tasted. While normally I’m a fan of flexibility in
cooking, in this instance I feel one should stick to the recipe as exactly as
possible. I’ll try to emphasize some of
the reasons for this along the way.
As
to the history of the soup, as near as I can figure, it is a pretty recent
addition to the Tex-Mex oeuvre, showing up some time in the seventies or early
eighties, when someone, somewhere got the bright idea to top a hearty Mexican
chicken soup with crispy tortilla strips and call it ‘tortilla soup.’ Then things went viral. Tortilla soup is now ubiquitous all over
Texas and the Southwest.
Chicken
Tortilla Soup
1 Onion, chopped
2-3 small Jalapenos, seeded and chopped
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
Vegetable or Olive Oil
2 Chicken Breasts, with bones and skin
1 16 oz can Stewed Tomatoes, chopped
1 10 oz can Tomatoes and Green Chiles (Rotel)
2 14 oz cans Beef Broth
2 14 oz cans Chicken Broth
1 10 oz can Tomato Soup
2-3 cups Water
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 bunch Fresh Cilantro
6 Corn Tortillas, cut into strips
Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2-3 small Jalapenos, seeded and chopped
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
Vegetable or Olive Oil
2 Chicken Breasts, with bones and skin
1 16 oz can Stewed Tomatoes, chopped
1 10 oz can Tomatoes and Green Chiles (Rotel)
2 14 oz cans Beef Broth
2 14 oz cans Chicken Broth
1 10 oz can Tomato Soup
2-3 cups Water
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 bunch Fresh Cilantro
6 Corn Tortillas, cut into strips
Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Sauté
onion and jalapenos until soft, about 10-12 minutes with medium heat. Add garlic and continue to cook for another 3
minutes or so.
Add
the cumin, chili powder and salt, stir, and continue to cook for a minute or
so.
Add
chicken breasts.
Add the broths and then
top up with water, adding just enough water until the chicken is covered. Bring to a boil.
Make
sure you use skin on, bone-in breasts.
This is one of those ‘stick-to-the-recipe” points I’ll be
emphasizing. There is a lot of flavor in
the skin and bones of the chicken that will be extracted into the soup, turning
those broths you used into much richer ‘stock.’
Don’t worry, you’ll discard the skin and bones later.
Cook
the chicken at a boil for 30 minutes, then remove the breasts and let them cool
for a minute or two. Slip the skin off
of ‘em and discard. Then, shred the meat
from the bones and add it back into the soup.
Discard the bones.
Try
to achieve bite-sized pieces with the chicken as you shred. The chicken meat will still be quite hot, so
I usually use a knife and disposable food service gloves when I shred to make
it easier and keep from burning my fingertips.
Add
the tomatoes & green chiles, tomato soup and stewed tomatoes (note, these
usually come whole in the can, so I chop them before I add them), and cook
another 30 minutes.
While
soup is cooking, slice the corn tortillas in strips...
...and bake them at 400 degrees F
for about 10 minutes, or until crispy.
Try to get the best quality tortillas you can get, preferably from an
authentic Mexican tortillaria. And make sure to use corn tortillas, and not flour. I know, the picture above looks like flour tortillas, but those are actually corn tortillas, made with white corn.
Chop
the cilantro...
...and add about half of it to the soup and turn off the heat.
Don’t do it any earlier, or you’ll boil away
all the delicate flavor and aroma elements of the fresh cilantro. Also, note, using dried cilantro (or
coriander, as it is sometimes called) won’t give you the full range of flavors
that you get with fresh, so make sure you track down the fresh cilantro. Reserve the rest that you chopped for
garnishing individual bowls of the soup.
Garnish
the soup with the crispy tortilla strips and serve immediately.
Serve
plenty of shredded sharp cheddar cheese and additional cilantro for your guests
to garnish. In my opinion, this is all
that is needed, but I have seen tortilla soup garnished additionally with
avocado, diced red onion, sour cream, etc, but I urge you to try it simply, as
prepared, with only additional cilantro and the cheese, first, so you can
appreciate this delicious soup in its most perfect, unadulterated form.
Until
next time,
¡Buen
apetito!
Chris
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