Sopa Azteca

Ingredients

• 3 dried pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 400 g tin fire-roasted chopped tomatoes
• 1 white onion, cut into thick slices
• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil, plus 250 ml for frying
• 2 litres chicken stock
• 1 large epazote sprig
• 300 g cooked chicken, shredded
• 8 corn tortillas
• 1 ripe avocado, cut into 1 cm cubes
• 150 g queso fresco or panela, cubed
• 120 ml Mexican crema or soured cream
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Before you cook

• Stem the chiles, tear them open and shake out the seeds.
• Stack the tortillas and cut them into strips about 5 mm wide.
• Cube the avocado and the cheese and set them out in small bowls for the table.

Steps

1. Toast the chiles in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 20 seconds a side until they smell sweet and puff slightly, and pull them out before they darken.
2. Tear one toasted chile into thin strips and set it aside as a garnish.
3. Cover the remaining chiles with hot water and leave them to soften for 15 minutes.
4. Char the onion slices and unpeeled garlic in the same dry pan over medium-high heat for 8 minutes, turning them until they are blackened in patches and soft.
5. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins into a blender.
6. Add the charred onion, the drained soaked chiles and the tomatoes with their juice, then blend to a smooth purée.
7. Heat the 3 tablespoons of oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
8. Pour in the purée all at once, standing back from the spitting, and fry it for 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens and thickens to a paste.
9. Pour in the chicken stock, add the epazote sprig and bring the pot to a simmer.
10. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes so the broth reduces slightly and the chile flavour rounds out.
11. Heat the 250 ml of oil in a small deep pan to 180C.
12. Fry the tortilla strips in three batches for 90 seconds each until they are golden and rigid, then lift them onto kitchen paper and salt them at once.
13. Stir the shredded chicken into the soup and heat it for 5 minutes.
14. Fish out the epazote sprig and season the broth with the salt.
15. Divide the tortilla strips, avocado and cheese between four deep bowls.
16. Ladle the hot soup over the top, add a spoonful of crema and a few reserved chile strips to each bowl, and serve with lime wedges.