Baby Acapulco's Soup in Paris!
After a few tries I finally came up with a pretty close version of Baby A's famous tortilla soup... In fact, I think it's better cause I didn't put any MSG or flavorings.
1 Roasted chicken. In this case, I bought a roasted chicken from the market. The roasted chicken gives the soup a very nice flavor. But a non-roasted chicken could work as well - just will have a different flavor.
1 large white or yellow onion (rough chopped)
1 large red onion (finely diced)
2 bundles Cilantro without any stems (stems make it bitter)
2-3 Chopped tomatos
2-3 Garlic cloves
2 Avocados
a few Limes
5 Corn Tortillas
Basmati Rice
Optional: Mexican Cheese
Optional: Chile peppers, cayenne peppers, or any hot pepper will do (cayenne flakes as well)
Remove the breast meat and thigh meat from the Roast Chicken. Dice the meat and put it in the fridge.
In a Large pot put the remainder of the roast chicken, white onion, garlic cloves. Top with water. Add some Olive Oil, a bit of salt and pepper, and optionally the hot pepper.
Simmer over low heat (covered for 1 hour). Drain and strain everything into another pot. Continue heating the broth, add salt, pepper to taste. If needed, soak up any excess fat off the top using a tortilla or bread.
Prepare the Basmati Rice. Don't cook it too much as the hot broth will do the rest. And you'll want to have the leftovers without soggy rice.
When ready to serve put the diced chicken, scoop of rice, chopped red onions, chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro, tortilla, avocado in each bowl. Add the very hot broth to the bowl.
Serve with warmed corn tortillas, extra Cilantro, Onions, Grated cheese, Limes on the side.
Vegetarian: Omit the chicken! This soup can be just as good using veggie boullion or just add more veggies when cooking. Combined with the rice, cheese, and tortillas this is a meal in itself.
Fresh Chicken: If you'd rather use a fresh chicken instead of an already roasted one just remove the breasts, legs, wings. Bring a quart of salted water to boil, add the chopped white/yellow onions, then add the dark meat and boil at medium heat for 18 minutes, then add the white meat and cook for an additional 10 minutes (skim off any excess foam as it cooks). Strain but keep the broth! Allow the chicken to cool and either chop it or shred. Add the carcass back to the broth, lower heat and simmer for at last another hour. Consider covering if you don't have enough broth to conserve it and keep it from boiling away. Remove the carcass, onions, strain the broth with a colander. Pour the hot broth over the diced chicken, coriander, red onions, avocados, tomatoes, and rice.
Finding ingredients for Mexican Food in Paris is easy. The Mexican community in Paris is very large and so there are at least 5 mexican epiceries/groceries. My favorite is "Mex & Co". They have a restaurant and also sell Corn and Flour Tortillas and various dried peppers and other ingredients.
Address: 10 Rue Dante, 5th arrondissement
Metro: Maubert-Mutualité
Phone: +33 (0)1 46 34 14 12
Serving: Lunch and dinner; drinks. Dishes include nachos, quesadillas, burritos, and combination
Voila!
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