SOPAS DE TORTILLAS

SOPAS DE TORTILLAS

#SIAintheKitchen

Still in apocalypse mode here in Vancouver. The theme this week on my Instagram cooking show, #SIAintheKitchen, was Mexican. I gave my viewers a choice between chilaquiles and tortilla soup because - you guessed it - I had a mini stack of leftover corn tortillas to use up! They were left in my freezer after I had a taco-making party. It’s always like too much or too late - they need to have a pack of 40 - that would be just perfect and I wouldn’t be in this situation every. single. time. Anywho, I digress.

Tortilla soup or sopas de tortillas won the poll which worked for me. I was going to go real simple - homemade, stock, canned beans, tomatoes, fresh herbs, warming spices and I was going to call it a day. However, when I reached my grocery store, there were hardly any supplies in sight! I managed to sneak the last can of canned tomatoes (albeit, they were Italian-style), black beans and white navy beans. No corn, no avocados (that were decent at least), nada. There weren't even any dried beans on left either. Well, my hungover ass was not in the mood to deal with it (and not to mention the line to purchase groceries was about 20 minutes long). I grabbed my three items and scuttled back into my house to start my show.

It’s a heavily modified version of a tortilla soup. Tortilla soup is typically tomato-based, featuring an array of different kinds of beans, spices and leftover tortilla strips that have been fried up. You can go mile-high with this soup and add chicken, avocado, sour cream, sliced radishes and more if you really want to. Want to up the heat? And some fresh jalapeños or a jar of chipotles in adobo sauce. Really, the options are endless.

I went rather simple with mine and vegan - beans, stock, tomatoes, and fresh herbs. Kept on getting better as the days went on. Did I mention that this soup freezes well as well? Disfruta!

SOPAS DE TORTILLAS - serves 4

Fried tortilla strips

• 10 tortillas

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• salt + pepper, to taste

Soup

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 onion, diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tsp dried red chili flakes

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tbsp cajun spice

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 (19 oz) can black beans, rinsed

• 1 (19 oz) can white navy beans, rinsed

• 1 (28.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, Italian-style

• 4 cups vegetable stock

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 tbsp Mexican-style hot sauce like Cholula

• 1 bunch cilantro, stems finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped

• 4 stalks scallions, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with a Silpat mat. Stack the tortillas five tortillas high and quarter them. From there, slice them in 1/2” strips. Transfer to a bowl and toss with salt, pepper and vegetable oil, ensuring that each strip is glistening in oil. Pour onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned on the outside and crispy.

2. In a large Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add in the onions, garlic, and spices and sauce for 4 minute until fragrant.

3. Add in the rinsed beans and tomatoes and stir. Pour in the vegetable stock and bay leaf. Bring the liquid to a boil. Add in the hot sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the cilantro stems.

4. To serve, place a handful of tortilla strips in a bowl. Ladle the hot soup over top and garnish with additional tortilla strips, fresh cilantro, scallions and additional drops of hot sauce.