Tortilla Soup

by kiki
(arizona)

This recipe for Tortilla Soup is wonderful with ooey, gooey, cheese melted on top. It's my favorite. Even though the recipe doesn't call for it, I sometimes add a little chopped up cooked chicken.

Ingredients:

* 1 med. onion, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
* 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded
* 1 lg. can chopped tomatoes, not drained
* 4 cup chicken broth
* 1 Tbsp. oregano
* 2 Tbsp. chili powder
* 3 tsp. cumin
* salt, pepper to taste
* tortilla chips
* Grated Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Using a Dutch oven, saute onion and garlic in oil until onion is soft. Add jalapenos and tomatoes and puree with a stick blender. Add broth and spices. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 1/2 hour.

To serve, put a handful of tortilla chips in each oven-proof soup bowl. Ladle the soup over the top. Sprinkle with the grated Mozzarella cheese. Broil them until the cheese melts and just starts to brown.

To make this more authentic, you can use flour tortillas instead of the tortilla chips. To do that, cut the tortillas into strips. Fry them until they are crisp.

If you don't have a stick blender, you can put the jalapenos and the tomatoes into a regular blender to puree them, and then add them back to the soup. Or, you can use a food processor. Using a stick blender just makes it quicker and makes clean-up easier.