With Thanksgiving right around the corner, celebrate with some authentic Mexican fall recipes. This week? My Mother’s Sopa de Papa y Queso (Mexican Potato Soup w/ Cheese)
For most people growing up in a Latino community and family, food plays an essential role in their culture. They use food as a way to celebrate love, customs and family. Growing up, my mother made dishes that held our family’s history. Each one has its own special story. When I was younger, my mom would be in the kitchen during the colder seasons, making her sacred recipes to bring warmth to our stomachs and our souls.
I want to share those cultural recipes and that warm feeling with you all in a three-part series leading up to Thanksgiving. Below we have the first recipe, and in the following two weeks, I’ll have two more recipes to share with you all, so be on the lookout!
My Mother’s Sopa de Papa y Queso (Mexican Potato Soup w/ Cheese)
Sopa de Papa y Queso is a traditional dish that is popular in northern Mexico. This is one of my favorite sopas that my mother would make with her own twist as a savory tomato soup with chicken seasoning and potatoes. My dad would call it “a poor man’s soup” because it is an inexpensive, easy and fulfilling meal that anyone can make with simple ingredients.
Servings: 5 people
Est. time: 30-35 min
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
2 diced roma tomatoes
½ of a 6 oz tomato sauce can
4 russet potatoes diced and peeled
½ yellow onion diced
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
½ a teaspoon of fresh oregano
1 whole queso fresco
6 cups of water
½ a teaspoon of garlic powder
Pinch of sugar
Instructions:
- Pour cooking oil on a medium-sized pot and turn on the stove to medium heat.
- When oil is heated pour diced onions onto it and let it saute, make sure to stir so they don’t get burned.
- When onions become tender, pour diced tomatoes with onions and stir. Add a pinch of sugar.
- Pour half of the tomato sauce into the pot, and then add the 6 cups of water to the pot.
- Pour chicken bullion in the pot, then cover with the lid and let it sit to boil.
- Make sure potatoes are diced in around one-inch cuts (not too small or too big)
- When water starts to simmer, add potatoes inside the pot and put heat on low.
- Put garlic powder in the pot, cover with a lid but not completely leave a little bit uncovered.
- Leave cooking until potatoes are tender/ soft, check if the saltiness is up to your preference if not add chicken bouillon until met to your desire.
- Add fresh oregano and then cut as much queso fresco as you want and add it to the pot.
- And then turn off the heat and cover it.
- Enjoy!