Jan 27, 2010:

better late than never! I have a vegan version of the soup– but the
recipe is not perfected.

Here goes anyway. Maybe you can experiment with it.

Ingredients for the soup: a block of firm tofu, onion (chopped), a couple of carrots (chopped), garlic (1 or two cloves chopped) 2 cans of hominy, 1 can of black beans. 1 carton of Vegetable broth (more if you like it more brothy), red pepper flakes and/or mild dried red pepper, salt/pepper to taste, cumin, mexican oregano, a couple of cloves

Crumble the tofu and “brown it” in a little canola oil, add the cumin, oregano and cloves. Then add the onion and carrots and garlic, cook until the onions are translucent. Add the hominy, beans and broth and red pepper.

Simmer… top with shredded cabbage, fresh chopped onion, fresh cilantro, avocado… a dash or two of Tapatio and a squirt of lemon.

A note about broth… I’ve been thinking of adding miso. My vegetarian friends like my posole, one is Mexican American and says it reminds her of mom’s cooking… but as a meat eater, it seems to me to lack a depth of flavor that the pork adds… miso may (or may not) add that.

A note about hominy: Here in NM they use “frozen” hominy- I prefer the canned, it cooks quicker and is saltier. I never saw frozen until I moved here and they call in pozole

The meat version is the same, except use pork shoulder, brown it with the spices and some onion, cover it with water add the chile pepper and let it simmer…. then pull the meat out and cut it up, return to pot add hominy and let it simmer… serve with aforementioned garnishes.

and best wishes to you and Leah and your family for this upcoming year…. hugs to everyone!

HEY. what part of Virginia are you guys in? I may be heading that way this summer for a bit…
–Jenn