Dinner Tonight: Lime Soup (Sopa de Lima)
The first meal in my new place after two weeks of crashing on couches should have been an excuse to go all out and do my gastronomic worst. But I was so tired after the moving process that all I wanted was something simple and comforting that could calm me down after the long, drawn out moving process. And nothing conjures up that feeling more than lime soup. It was about a year ago that I sampled my first bowl on the tiny island of Isla Mujeres in Mexico. Rather like a tortilla soup, it was topped with a sprinkling of cheese and crumbled tortilla chips. But instead of chilies, it was awash in lime and garlic. It was vibrant and soothing, something that didn't knock you over on the first spoonful, but just slowly crept into your soul like really good chicken soup. I loved it so much; I asked the owner for the recipe. He refused. "Come back again and I might think about it." We returned three times to try and coax him out of that recipe, but somehow I still left that island empty handed.
To recreate it, I decided to start with this recipe from the New York Times. What really impressed me was the use of cinnamon, clove, and oregano which infuse with the stock for ten minutes and are then discarded. The spices may be tossed, but they haunt the final dish, adding sweet and savory notes to this very quick meal. The absolute hardest part of the process is frying the tortillas to create the chips, requiring a bit of oil and some patience. This can obviously be avoided by buying tortilla chips, but I always find the store bought kind turn to mush a little too quickly.
I know lime soup doesn't sound like much, but it is oddly appealing to me. Though not quite the same bowl I fell in love with a year ago, it was still all I needed to relax.
Lime Soup (Sopa de Lima)
- serves 2 -
Ingredients
1 stick of Mexican cinnamon, broken up
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
3 whole cloves
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound chicken breast, chopped into 3/4-inch pieces
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt
Vegetable oil
4 ounces corn tortillas (about 6), cut into 1 inch strips
4 ounces Chihuahua or Monterey Jack cheese
1 avocados, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, sliced thinly
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the cinnamon, oregano, and cloves onto a baking sheet. Place in oven; toast 5 minutes, checking after 3 minutes to make sure they don't burn. Transfer the spices to a clean bowl; set aside.
2. Pour the chicken stock into a saucepan; bring to a boil. Add the spices, and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes. Strain the stock into another pot, removing the spices. Bring the stock back to a simmer; add the chicken. Cook 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Pour in the lime juice, and season with salt to taste.
3. Meanwhile, pour a 1/4 inch of oil into a skillet set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add a few strips of tortilla, and cook for about 30 seconds or until crisp. Drain these on a plate covered with paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the strips.
4. Ladle the soup into two bowls. Top each bowl with some tortilla strips, shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro, and lime slices.
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a Chicago-based freelance writer and a co-founder of The Paupered Chef.
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7 Comments:
This sounds like an inspired, aromatherapy-to-devour combination. We are vegetarians & I often reflexively stop reading when some sort of meat crops up in an article. Not this time. Good luck in your new apt--sounds like you've initiated it well.
erialc at 6:47PM on 07/13/09
isla mujeres - i love that island...... always felt so at home there with the families walking around in the early evening -- watching the kids play in the piazza -- having a watermelon liquado after a delicious grilled fish dinner .... and your recipe for the soup sounds so good... i've had it many times and never knew there were cinnamon & cloves in there....
haven't been there in awhile - i hope it's still a special little place.
pooch at 10:09PM on 07/13/09
"4 ounces Chihuahua or Monterey Jack cheese"...what a wonderful use for otherwise nippy and obnoxious Chihuahuas!!! :o)
juliebugsmama at 10:05AM on 07/14/09
One reason your sopa de lima doesn't taste the same is because you are using Persian or Key limes or Límon in Spanish. The soup in the Yucatan is traditionally made with Limas which are slightly different and more aromatic than limes. I learned this on Mexico One Plate at a Time Season 5 Episode 5: Savoring Citrus. It might be covered in some of Bayless's books also.
allenb at 11:19AM on 07/14/09
For an authentic flavor, you will need "limas agria", which are the highly acidic limes native to Yucatan, Mexico.
Another recipe you will need is for the "Caldo de Pollo", or chicken broth. This broth yields a much different flavor than traditional American chicken broth. For this broth, you will need: Chicken bones, white onions, carrots, garlic, celery, bay leaves, black peppercorns, allspice, Mexican oregano, epazote, cilantro, cold water and sea salt.
Additional garnishes simply add luxury to the soup. They almost always include chicken meat, fresh herbs and fresh lime slices, but can also include habanero, onion, avocado and tomato.
The tortilla portion of this recipe is probably the easiest thing to do. They need to be deep-fried at 380 F for a couple seconds until the proper color and texture is reached.
ChefR0bert at 1:19PM on 07/14/09
Made this last night. The BF and I loved it! Very easy, very tasty. I really loved the addition of the cinnamon and cloves, something I never would have thought to include.
MissL at 3:08PM on 07/14/09
"mexican oregano" is actually epazote.
dmarina at 1:24PM on 08/12/09