Thanks everyone for enjoying the soup so much. It's been one of my favorites for a while.
When I lived in Guatemala, a friend of ours from Mexico came to do business in San Pedro about once every 6 months and we would bug her to cook for us everytime. I was always hungry while living there, the black beans and tortillas just didn't cut it all the time.
Here's my attempt at writing it down:
Juanita's chicken soup
1 lb. of chicken thighs (cut into 1" pieces)
2 large white onions (finely chopped)
4 (or more) garlic cloves (minced)
2 T. butter
1 T. Cinnamon
1/2 Cayenne pepper or to taste (if you aren't a super spicey person I would be careful with this ingredient, I toned it down for bookclub)
2 t. Cumin
Saute all of the above until onions are translucent (add garlic at the end) then add the following to the pan
4 C. chicken broth (you may need more)
juice from half a lime
1 t. salt or to taste (check chicken broth for sodium content)
1/2 t. black pepper
2 cans of garbonzo beans (I prefer S&W, it makes a difference)
I like to garnish it with different things such as ripe avacados, extra wedges of lime, chopped cilantro, julienne some radishes and/or carrots, finely chopped red onions, scallions, tortilla chips and maybe some queso fresca.
When Juanita made this she used the whole chicken and black beans. I've just made it more "Shauna" friendly. I don't really like to see the bones unless I have to and I think the garbonzo beans give it all a better texture but you can do as you like. Call me for any questions. Sorry it's taken me so long but I had to make it again and try to halfway measure it all out. Enjoy.
May Book Club will still be at Rebecca's home -- but due to her class schedule we will be having it on Tuesday May 12th instead. She will send out an e-mail with directions for everyone.
