The second word in our culinary Spanish course is “sopa”, that means soup. And the third is “lima”, which means lime. Sopa de lima is a traditional soup from the Yucatan state: think halfway between chicken & noodles and tortilla soup, the noodles are replaced by fried tortilla strips and the chicken broth is flavoured with limes.
In a fuller, happier moment of my life, I have visited the Yucatan peninsula, and, even if it was not exactly soup weather, I think I did not let a day go by without ordering sopa de lima.
The best one I had was actually outside of Yucatan, in the neighbouring state of Campeche, in the lovely port city that gives the name to the whole region.
San Francisco de Campeche is a quaint sea town, with a beautifully preserved walled city center (a UNESCO heritage site), with baroque colonial buildings, military fortifications and a lively main square.
And the best sopa de lima in Campeche was the one from La Parroquia.
Now, if there is a restaurant that embodies the concept of “fancy”, La Parroquia is the establishment that it’s farthest from, with the menus in plastic binders and the decor (or lack thereof). It reminded me of some trattorias we have in Italy, the ones that would take “no-frills” as a compliment… but it was highly recommended by the Lonely Planet, so in we went!
Anyway! Since yesterday it is quite cold here in Houston, with temperatures around freezing point and its gonna get worse in the next 2 days… so it is definitely soup weather!
SOPA DE LIMA
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 cups chicken stock
1 chile habanero
1 tomato (like a Roma tomato)
2 cloves garlic
2 limes (one peeled and roughly chopped, the other one thinly sliced crosswise)
4 bone-in skinless chicken thighs or 1 chicken breast (depending on how lazy you feel)
6 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2″ strips
Dried thyme
Dried oregano (better if Mexican oregano)
Directions
First, you need to make chicken stock (I used one half of the chicken breast and 6 cups water, plus salt and 1 onion). You should end up with some 4 cups of stock.
I don’t really like habanero chiles, so I subbed a serrano chile instead.
Cover a sheet pan with foil, arrange the chile, the tomatoes and the garlic and broil them on HIGH: the chile will be all blackened after some 5 minutes, the garlic will take some 10 minutes and finally the tomatoes will be ready after 15 minutes. Put all these ingredients in a blender, together with the chopped lime and puree until smooth.
A word to the wise: if you’re using a habanero chile, you may want to remove stem and seeds before pureeing, and for the love of God WEAR GLOVES when you do this! If, like me, you’re using a serrano chile, you don’t want to be the laughingstock of Mexico, so you will stem it but not seed it. You can expect that the result will pleasantly be a little hot.
Sieve this puree into the pot with the stock and the herbs, bring to a boil and add the other half of the chicken. Season with a little more salt, then cover and gently simmer for about 25 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked and tender, turn off the heat and transfer the chicken to a plate.
Throw in the pot all the lime slices (reserving some for garnish): this will give the soup just the right amount of lime taste: if you simmer the limes, it will be too much because you will release all the essential oils in the lime peel and there is a chance the broth will be too tangy and unpleasantly bitter. I speak from experience…
Once the chicken is cool enough, shred it (if you used the thighs, this is when you remove and discard the bones too). .
While you wait for the chicken to cool, fry the tortilla strips in a large skillet, tossing till crispy and browned, about 3 minutes per batch.
Assemble the bowls: equally distribute the tortilla strips, the shredded chicken and the lime slices into each bowl, and finally ladle the soup. Enjoy immediately. Buen provecho!
ricottaforte 