Taste Sonora Recipe: Gallina Pinta - A Sonoran Twist on-Pozole

Gallina Pinta, translated into english,  painted chicken. I can tell you with certainty this contains no chicken –– all beef! What I gather, the mix of beans with homeny create a look of chicken on the plate, given it the name. It uses cut form the cow that make this a hearty soup to satisfy any apatite. Like most Sonoran dishes, the primary ingredients are the source of the flavor. So make sure you select them wisely.

PLEASE READ: This recipe is use on a pressure cooker or Instapot. COOKED hominy was used because hominy uncooked, called nixtamal, is difficult to find. I used COOKED hominy which I added after the pressure cooking. If you are able to find RAW nixtamal, add it in at the beginning of the pressure cooking along with ALL the ingredients.

All ingredients (meat vs beans/hominy) ratios are measure to be exact. If you want more meat then use 1 cup each for both beans and hominy. At the end pf the day, it's up to you. **Liquid was removed to show ingredients in above picture.
​

Lets get start!

Ingredients:

• 1-Pound beef oxtail (colitias de Res)
• 1-Pound beef shank center cut (chamorro de res)
• 2-Cups of pinto beans
• 2-Cups of cooked hominy (or uncooked/raw nixtamal)
• 1-Large onion, whole
• 1-Anahiem Chile (large, seeded)
• 1/2-1 Cilantro bunch
• 1-Whole head of garlic
• 2-Tabelspoon of oregano 
• Salt and pepper ( Don't be sky with the salt. This dishes will need it so do not hold back on it)
• Water (just enough to cover about 2 inches above the ingredients in the pot)

Hardware:

• Pressure cooker or Instapot

Gallina Pinta, translated into english,  painted chicken. I can tell you with certainty this contains no chicken –– all beef! What I gather, the mix of beans with homeny create a look of chicken on the plate, given it the name. It uses cut form the cow that make this a hearty soup to satisfy any apatite. Like most Sonoran dishes, the primary ingredients are the source of the flavor. So make sure you select them wisely.

PLEASE READ: This recipe is use on a pressure cooker or Instapot. COOKED hominy was used because hominy uncooked, called nixtamal, is difficult to find. I used COOKED hominy which I added after the pressure cooking. If you are able to find RAW nixtamal, add it in at the beginning of the pressure cooking along with ALL the ingredients.

All ingredients (meat vs beans/hominy) ratios are measure to be exact. If you want more meat then use 1 cup each for both beans and hominy. At the end of the day, it's up to you. **Liquid was removed to show ingredients in above picture.
​

Lets get start!

Ingredients:

• 1-Pound beef oxtail (colitias de Res)
• 1-Pound beef shank center cut (chamorro de res)
• 2-Cups of pinto beans
• 2-Cups of cooked hominy (or uncooked/raw nixtamal)
• 1-Large onion, whole
• 1-Anahiem Chile (large, seeded)
• 1/2-1 Cilantro bunch
• 1-Whole head of garlic
• 2-Tabelspoon of oregano 
• Salt and pepper ( Don't be sky with the salt. This dishes will need it so do not hold back on it)
• Water (just enough to cover about 2 inches above the ingredients in the pot)

Hardware:

• Pressure cooker or Instapot

 

Step 1:  Prep your ingredients. Since we are using the pressure cooker or Instapot, there is not need to cut the meat. If you are going boiling route, you will need to cut them in about 1 inch cubes, along with dicing all you're ingredients (obviously except the beans and hominy). Onion was cut in half and I did dice the pepper. Garlic peeled and  placed whole. Add the salt. I recommend not skipping this step. You can adjust post pressure cook.

 

Step 2: Add the meat first to the pot. Then the beans (hominy if uncooked). Followed by the all listed ingredients. I used a Breville Fast/Slow cooker at set it to 80 minutes. At 45 min the beans to are cook properly. You can use that to gauge  Once completed, follow your cookers opening procedure. Add in cooked hominy. All the meat should be tender and shredded. The garlic and chile pepper should as well disappeared. The onion will remain but you can remove it or stir it in  amongst the rest of the soup.

 

Step 5: Serve. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and onion. Lemon or lime is optional. Chile flakes or jalapeño is suffice. If you can get your hands on chiltepin, Sonoras and surrounding region home chile, do so.  
​
Being Sonora, you should pair it with tortillas de harina or bolillo. ​