Sopa de Maiz (Mexican Sweetcorn Soup)

 

What do you do when you have an extra large amount of sweetcorn... you make soup of course.  Adding a bit of heat and acidity of the lime juice took the edge off this vegetable and kept it from being too sweet.  Topping it with some tostadas I had left over (you can use tortilla chips) gave the dish a crispiness that was needed.  You can play around with the amount of heat you add by keeping the seeds of the chilli in or out... as I used little birds eye chillies I did not bother to remove the seeds which may have created a more potent combination than intended.. but it was still delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium potato (cut into 1cm cubes)
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp paprika
• 400 ml vegetable stock
• 600 g tinned sweetcorn
• 1 grilled sweetcorn
• Juice of 1 lime
• 3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 2 or 3 tostadas or about 30 tortilla chips (I recommend Mister Freed tortilla chips - guacamole flavour - gluten free, vegan, very tasty)

Instructions

1. Fry the onion for about 10 minutes in a large saucepan.
2. Add the chilli and spices and combine the onion. Stir for about 1 minute to prevent the spices from burning.
3. Add the potato and the sweetcorn followed by the vegetable stock.  If the mixture is too thick add some more water.
4. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potato is cooked and add more water if needed.
5. At this stage remove the bay leaves and add the majority of the coriander leaves and the lime juice.
6. Take off the heat and blend the mixture in a liquidiser or with an immersion blender.
7. When ready to serve heat up the mixture and then spoon into bowls with a sprinkle of broken up tostadas or tortilla chips and rest of the coriander leaves.

Antonio Aguilar - Corridos y Caballos