Tortilla soup

Soup Ingredients:

• 4 dried hatch chili pods ---5?
• 1 can of tomatoes, drained
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cartons of good quality chicken stock
• 1 whole chicken
• 4 oz. lime juice (6 limes-ish)
• Olive oil

Pico Ingredients:

• 4 big roma tomatoes, small diced
• 3/4 small white onion, minced
• 1/2 jalapeno, minced
• 1/4 cup cilatnro, minced
• lime juice, to taste
• salt, to taste

Toppings:

• Pico
• Avocado, diced
• 3 Jalapeno, thin half moons
• Bonus lime juice
• Bonus salt
• 2 rice-cooker cups of cooked medium-grain rice (meaning, make 2 cups of raw rice, as measured with your rice cooker cup)

Prep Instructions:

• Make the pico by combining the above ingredients. This is literally all to taste so modify as much as you want. Once combined, store in fridge while you cook so the lime juice can soften the bite of the onions.
• Take the chili pods and soak them in a bowl of boiling water for 20 minutes.
• Start the rice in the rice cooker -- 2 rice-cooker cups of rice, use chicken stock from one of your cartons for the liquid, add a few generous pinches of salt. Hold rice until soup is ready.

Instructions:

• Take soaked chili pods, split and rinse them gently to remove seeds and stems
• Combine chilis, drained canned tomatoes, and about a cup of the chicken stock in a blender
• Blend until .... blended.
• In an instant pot (or stovetop pot), saute 1 small diced white onion in olive oil until translucent
• Add 5 cloves of minced garlic, making sure not to burn it
• Once the garlic is fragrant, place the whole chicken on top
• Cover chicken in chili/tomato/stock mixture, and fill your instant pot the rest of the way with as much chicken stock as will fit safely. The rest can be added later, after the chicken has been shredded
• Pressure cook for 30 minutes, followed by a 10 minute natural release. After both, open steam valve to release pressure.
• Remove the chicken and pull all the meat out of it, discarding the bones and skin. Shred meat to desired size. Add meat back to soup along with any remaining stock.
• Add the juice of 4 limes (aiming for around 3 oz) and salt to taste.

Assembly Instructions:

• Combine rice and soup in a ratio that delights you
• Top with toppings that delight you - the pico is strongly recommended. The pops of fresh onion/tomato/jalapeno against the cooked soup is amazing.