2011 is the year of hominy

Hominy, hominy, hominy.  Where have you been all my life? Tonight I tried out my bran new cookbook, Viva Vegan!, to great fanfare.  Even though today was unseasonably warm, I still thought New Years a perfect occasion for a healthy, filling stew.  Enter Terry Hope Romero's recipe for Quick Red Posole with Beans.

The ingredients are familiar to any Mexican food fan-- pinto beans, poblano, tomatoes, Corona (or in my case two Coronitas because it was on sale!), onion and hominy.  What's hominy you say?  Only my new favorite ingredient.  And unlike many exotic vegan ingredients, hominy is easy to find and super cheap.  A can on cooked hominy was about $.60.  Hominy is dried maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization.  It looks like fluffy white corn kernels, but tastes like corn tortillas. Or corn tortillas taste like hominy rather, since ground up hominy is made into masa harina which is then made into tortillas. 

The posole rocked! My husband has asked that I quote him as saying "Its a good as anything I've had in any desert southwest joint." Robert and I like to think of ourselves as Mexican food connoisseurs, and believe me this posole is up there with the best of them.  And its super healthy and low-cal to boot!  The beer gave this stew an incredible depth of flavor, but you can also use vegetable stock.  Seriously, everyone must go out and by Viva Vegan! NoW!