Many years ago, my family lived in a small town. The only decent Mexican restaurant was Casa Ole. Really. I promise. But we loved it! And they made the best tortilla soup I've ever tasted. So over the years, we've experimented and played with the recipe until I feel like I've finally gotten a tortilla soup that I love just as much. And now we eat it at home regularly!
If you do this right, you can keep the recipe very low fat and low carb since it's all meat and vegetables. And where most Mexican restaurants use chicken in their soup, I prefer mine with beef.
So here's the ingredients: pre-cut stew meat, beef stock, 4 or 5 carrots, 2 zucchini squash, 1/2 onion, cabbage, frozen corn, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, chili powder, and cumin.
First you'll finely chop the onion. I use a sweet yellow onion in almost all of my recipes. Toss these in the pot with either a tablespoon of butter or of vegetable oil. Let these saute on low heat while you prep the rest of the vegetables. You only want them to become translucent. Don't let them brown.
Now we're going to peel and slice the carrots. For a soup or stew, I like to slice them into very thin rounds. They go much further and cook faster this way. You'll want to put them into a large mixing bowl once they're sliced. Chop your zucchini squash. Cut both ends off, then slice it long ways twice. Now you'll slice these so that you have small quarter pieces. Place these into the mixing bowl on top of the carrots. Next you'll chop about a quarter of the head of cabbage. I like to have mine in squares. Just because it looks pretty! These pieces will go in the mixing bowl on top of the zucchini. Set this bowl aside until you're done with the meat.
Our next step is to chop the pre-cut stew meat. This accomplishes too things...first it will help the single package of meat to go much farther Second, it will cook much faster. Seeing a theme here? I like to stretch my dollars and cook quickly! The meat should be 1/4 inch squares and as soon as it's chopped, toss it in the pot with the onions and turn the heat up!
Let the meat brown on high heat, adding 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. You'll also add 1 1/2 tablespoons of ground cumin.
As soon as your meat is browned, add the cabbage and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Stir the cabbage around with the meat until it starts getting a little clear around the edges. About a minute or two is all this should take. Then you'll add the zucchini squash and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Do the same thing with this...stir it around with the meat to get that good beef flavor incorporated. The green of the cabbage and zucchini should be very bright right now.
Last vegetables to add are the carrots and frozen corn. I like a lot of corn in mine, so I use a full 12 ounce package. You can cut this down if you prefer. Don't forget to add 1/4 teaspoon of salt for each of these vegetables.
Now, it's time to add the beef broth. A 26 ounce carton of beef stock goes in. Then I fill the carton again with water to increase the liquid in the pot. You can use beef broth instead, it's just not quite as rich a flavor. The last two ingredients to add are one can of tomato sauce and 1 tablespoon of chili powder. This isn't a spicy soup, so don't use too much of the chili powder. But you can increase it a little if you want.
Bring the whole pot to a boil and cover it with a lid. Turn the heat to medium high so it's still bubbling, just not a heavy boil. Cook it for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until the carrots are soft. They're a good indicator of when the entire soup is finished.
Make sure you have a fresh bag of tortilla chips...that's what makes this "tortilla soup!" Dish up the soup and set out the chips. Then everyone can add their crushed tortilla chips to the soup and enjoy!
It's a very easy recipe, but the flavor is so rich and tasty! Everyone, from my Mother down to my three year old, will eat a second bowl. And the kiddos think it's fun getting to crush their chips to add for themselves.
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