This is an almost or entirely shelf stable recipe that makes a hearty soup. Being shelf-stable, it’s a good one to keep in case of sudden snow or storm days, or when the paycheck just won’t stretch.
It takes opening some cans and making sure nothing scorches.
Ingredients:
— 1 onion or 1/4 cup dried onion, rehydrated in about 1/4 cup warm water
— Couple tablespoons of oil
— 1 pound of ground chicken, or 1 pound of boneless chicken (frozen is great) or 2 cans of chicken breast. (Kirkland/Costco size, not lunch size)
— 2 cans of green chiles (small cat food sized cans)
— 1 can green enchilada sauce (or a small can of Herdez salsa verde for vegan)
— 2 cans of beans, drained and rinsed. Regular sized, 15-18 oz cans. (Pick the ones you like. I’m a white bean fan so that’s what I buy, but black, pintos, kidneys, or whatever you have, including chickpeas. Not sweet baked beans.) 3 cans if vegan.
— Spices: mine are cumin (1 TB+), 1 tsp chili powder (or more. I use Ancho chile powder from Penzeys and around a tablespoon of Hatch green chile powder) garlic (either a couple tsp of powder or 2 tablespoons from a jar), Bay leaf (YES, it does add flavor. Get the ground bay leaf if you don’t like fishing them out), oregano (and if you rhyme oregano with Bono, go sit in the naughty corner.) Adjust to your preferences. Think warm, Southwest.
— 1 can of corn, rinsed and drained
— 1 15 oz can of hominy (white or yellow) . It’s nixtamalized corn, also known as posole, just canned and ready to use. Remember beans and corn are a complete meal, and you have to use nixtamalized corn to prevent the pellagra and keep the vampires off. (Seriously not joking)
— 6 cups water
— 2 Tablespoons of either Chicken Better than Bouillon, or 2 tablespoons of Knorr granulated chicken bouillon.
— Garnishes: hot sauce, sour cream, cheese, tortilla chips or broken taco shells or warmed tortillas or pan-fried solidified polenta, avocado. Or nothing.
For a vegan version, sub the chicken with more beans, or tofu, or any form of protein you like, and vegetable broth/bouillon instead of the chicken versions. You’ll also either skip the cheese and sour cream, or sub vegan versions. They do provide some fat which balances the macronutrients and makes it satisfying.
Peel and chop the onion if it’s whole, put it in a large soup pot (mine is 8 quarts/liters) with some of the oil. Turn burner to medium (Or, if you’re doing this instant pot style, use the saute setting) and let those onions wilt and start to caramelize. Not French onion soup caramelized, just lightly browned.
While the onions are cooking, defrost if necessary and chop up the chicken if it’s not already done or ground, add that to the onions. Break it up and let it get fully cooked. With canned chicken, just empty the whole cans into the pot. With vegan options, know your ingredients and follow the logic there; tofu, tempeh and TVP all behave enough differently that it’s up to you.
Add the enchilada sauce. Stir. Add the green chiles. Stir. Add the beans. Stir. Add the corn and hominy. Stir.
Use a little of the water to rinse the green chile and enchilada sauce cans into the pot, then add the rest of the water and the bouillon. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes, up to several hours.
Serve over tortilla chips or with tortillas, or polenta cakes, with or without sour cream and/or cheese, with hot sauce or not. Avocado if you got one.
Total cost should be around $11-15 for the canned goods, plus the spices and bouillon. A big jar of Knorr granulated is about $10, it lasts forever, it is an excellent salt replacement in cooking (more umami, slightly less sodium). Garnishes are extra, since they’re mostly not shelf-stable (though tortilla chips will last a long time if you hide them.) Should make around 8 servings, stretches to 12 easily and beautifully with polenta cakes, doubles or triples perfectly well (if you have help opening cans).
Quick polenta cakes: requires that you have made instant polenta sometime in the recent past, and you’ve put the extra in a loaf pan or a shallow glass baking dish in the fridge for at least overnight, so it’s now a cold, solid mass you can cut neatly and have it hold its shape. (Bellino instant polenta is the shelf-stablest polenta you will find, it comes in good sized packages for relatively low prices and it’s good to have in case of emergency. The shelf-stable tubes of polenta are also perfect for polenta cakes.)
Cut the polenta into neat shapes around a half inch thick in one dimension, drizzle them with oil, and bake for 30 minutes near the heat source at about 375 F, or pan-fry over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes. You want a light browning and toasting, not blackening or dark browning.
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