Soul in a Bowl: The Pozole Verde at El Borrego in City Heights

While pozole rojo—with its extroverted flavors of chili peppers, spices, and achiote—might be the popular kid in the hominy soup family, don’t overlook its green sibling: pozole verde.

Rodnia Attiq and her mother, Maria Rosario Sotelo, owners of El Borrego, saw an opportunity to fill a void in the market—and satisfy their cravings—when they added this hometown favorite herbaceous, nutty soup to their menu.

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“In Acapulco, Thursday night pozole is a tradition. We brought this custom over with our recipe for pozole verde as a Thursday special, but we extended it through Sunday since people liked it so much,” Attiq says.

1. Pozole verde gets its distinctive color and flavor from a base of green ingredients. El Borrego’s recipe calls for pumpkin seeds, epazote, radish leaves, jalapeños, hoja santa (Mexican pepper leaf), roasted tomatillos, lettuce, oregano, garlic, and cilantro.

2. These ingredients are blended together and cooked in a pot with a bit of oil until they’re reduced to a paste, then dropped into a pot of hominy and pork broth, where they’re stirred until they fully blend.

3. A separate pot is used to cook the pork*—the traditional protein for all pozoles. El Borrego’s cuts of choice are pork shoulder and rib meat.

*El Borrego also prepares a vegan pozole verde recipe so no one is left out. It has a rich vegetable broth with carrot chunks and shredded cabbage in place of pork.

4. Each bowl of pozole verde that comes out of the kitchen is accompanied by the customary garnishes: cabbage, limes, oregano, chopped onion, chile de árbol flakes, pork rinds, and tostadas.

While a single bowl can be quite filling, Acapulco custom holds that Thursday night pozole feasts must be packed with even more traditional munchies, such as squash blossom quesadillas, flautas rolled with potato or chicken, and crispy tacos—all of which are also available from the antojitos section of El Borrego’s menu.

El Borrego Restaurant

4280 El Cajon Boulevard, City Heights

@el_borrego_restaurant

Soul in a Bowl – Pozole Verde El Borrego

Kimberly Motos