Nixtamalization

You’d probably never guess the meaning of the word I’ve chosen for the title to today’s blog. So to save you the trouble of consulting dictionary.com I’ll explain. ‘Nixtamalization’ is the term for the process used to turn field corn into hominy.

My wife, Bethyl, and I have been looking for simple pozole recipe that we could make in the crock-pot. When we have had this soup in restaurants we have always commented on how much we like it. Growing up, hominy wasn’t exactly a staple in our home, but we did have it from time-to-time and I enjoyed it. Unfortunately The More-with-Less cookbook doesn’t have any hominy recipes so I have adapted a recipe from the newspaper. It was perfect during the waning cool days of winter. And if you have a good recipe using hominy pass it along.

 

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil

1-2 lbs boneless pork loin cut into 1 inch cubes

1 15 oz can enchilada sauce

1 15 oz can white hominy

1 onion chopped

¼ cup green chilies diced

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon oregano

¼ cup cilantro

Heat the canola oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the pork; cook and stir just until meat is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Place the meat in a 4 quart slow cooker. Pour the enchilada sauce over the meat. Top with the hominy, onion, chilies, garlic, and oregano. Pour in half cup of water.

Cover, and cook on High for 5 to 6 hours. Stir in the cilantro and salt. Cook on Low for 30 minutes more. Sprinkle with some chopped cilantro after dishing up.

Serve with warm corn tortillas and garnishes; such as chopped cabbage, sour cream, lime juice and green onions.