Patzcuaro is a city of doorways into a secret ‘jardines’.

In 1976 I traveled to the town of Patzcuaro in Mexico, and on that first trip I fell in love with both the town and the Sopa Tarasca. It was addictive and I had it almost every day. So I was delighted to find that the first thing we made in our cooking class featuring the food of Michoacán was Sopa Tarasca!

Sopa Tarasca

Although similar to other forms of  ‘tortilla’ soup, at least in the garnishes of cream, cheese, avocado, crumbled pasilla chiles and deep-fried julienned tortillas, this soup has a base of pureed tomatoes, Guajillo chiles and Flor de Mayo beans. I love this soup, but would never have guessed that it had beans in it!

Flor de Mayo Beans

• these Flor de Mayo beans look similar to pinto beans; sometimes they are called ‘romano beans’ or ‘cherry beans’. They are cooked until soft, and then pureed. If you can’t find them, pinto beans are an acceptable substitute.

las frijoles para la sopa Tarasca

• 8 or so guajillo chiles are boiled water for ten minutes, and then their stems and seeds are removed

soaked Guajillo chiles for the sopa Tarasca

• the chiles are blended with a cup of crushed tomatoes, 2 cloves of mashed garlic and 1/4 chopped onion

blending the guajillo chiles, onion, garlic and tomatoes

adding the blended chile/tomato mix to the pureed beans for the Sopa Tarasca

slicing tortillas into fine strips for the sopa Tarasca.

‘deep-frying’ the tortilla strips

deep-fried tortilla strips being drained on paper towel

• here’s an easy way to cube an avocado

one way to slice up an avocado

all the fixings for the sopa Tarasca: cheese, cream, julienned deep-fried tortillas, crumbled pasilla chiles and cubed avocado

¡Por fin! la sopa tarasca

typical Patzcuaro wall with door & shuttered windows

Chef Rossana, the instructor of my Mexican cooking course, is on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MiMetate