Day of the Dead Soup @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway #Halloween

MADDIE DAY here. It's our Halloween season here at the Kitchen, but I thought I'd shake it up a little and bring you a Day of the Dead soup recipe, instead! And I have an ARC of Four Leaf Cleaver - a Country Store Mystery celebrating a different ethnic holiday - to give away to a commenter.

Dia dos Mortos, or Day of the Dead, is celebrated on November first in many primarily Catholic countries, especially in Latin America. I first experienced it as a seventeen-year-old exchange student in Brazil, when I went with my host family to the cemetery to leave flowers and food on the graves of their loved ones. For them it was a somber day.

Later I learned of the more festive atmosphere of Dia de los Muertos in places like Mexico, where families picnic with food and drink and music near their dearly departeds. The icons and artwork of colorful skeletons doing all kinds of daily life activities is delightful. (My favorite was the figure of a skeleton sitting at a laptop, but I gave it to a writer friend long ago and now wish I'd bought myself one!)

Wedged between Halloween and my birthday, the idea of an annual food-based party with the souls of those who went on before has always appealed to me. It's not part of my personal cultural heritage, but I grew up in southern California and love Mexican food of all kinds. So I went hunting for Day of the Dead recipes and found this one to share with you.

Sopa Azteca for Dia de los Muertos

You can change up the ingredients as you wish, making it spicier or less spicy, and even vegetarian if you omit the chicken, add its seasoning to the soup, and use vegetable broth.

Ingredients

I neglected to include a lime, a bottle of hot sauce, and the vegetable oil in the photo.

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 small can chopped green chilis

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and diced

4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 3/4 pounds Roma tomatoes, diced (or 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes*, with their juices)

8 cups good-quality vegetable or chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Juice of ½ lime

Vegetable oil

Ten corn tortillas cut into ½ inch strips 

1 cup grated jalapeno jack cheese

1 avocado, diced

Sour cream

 

Directions

Toss the chicken with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Add the tomatoes and green chilis and cook until warm. Add broth and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. 

Add chicken. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

While the soup simmers, layer paper towels on a dinner plate. Add vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a heavy skillet by a quarter inch. Heat until oil shimmers. Carefully add enough strips to form only one layer and fry 1-2 minutes until crispy and golden. 

Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towel, layering another towel on top. Repeat until all are fried. Salt while warm if desired. Don’t let hot oil drop on your toe (ouch even through a sock!).

Add lime juice and parsley to soup and adjust seasoning, adding a few drops of hot sauce if desired.

Ladle the hot broth into each serving bowl. Top with tortilla strips, avocado, and cheese, finishing with a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!

Readers: What's your favorite Halloween or Day of the Dead food? I'll send one of you an advance copy of Four Leaf Cleaver, so please include your email address.

My most recent release is Murder in a Cape Cottage, the fourth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, which came out in September.

"Scarfed Down," my Country Store novella in the collection Christmas Scarf Murder released the same day.

My next release is Four Leaf Cleaver, out in late January.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.