sopa de lima / lime soup

2019-11-20

Sopa de lima (Sp. 'lime soup') is a Mexican soup from the Yucatan area. This is a recipe dating back to Mayan times, that has been adjusted for modern ingredients. This used to be a turkey soup. Nowadays, it is usually a chicken soup—sometimes pork—with fried tortillas and avocado. You can also try this with seafood instead of meat.

The defining ingredient of this soup is the lime/grapefruit juice that gives it the typical tart flavor. Without this, it's just a tortilla soup like so many others. Some recipes add a lot of lime juice. If you have not prepared this before, start easy and add the juice little by little until you find your personal limit by tasting.

This soup is quite easy to make. This is a slightly simplified version. Some recipes recommend boiling (part of) the fried tortillas in the soup for a while. I left out some of the spices and I limited the fried tortillas because I'm not a great fan of tortillas.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 2-4 servings:

  • 2 chicken / turkey legs
  • chicken / turkey bones to make stock
  • 2-3 qts. water
  • 3-6 limes
  • 4-10 bitter oranges or 2-4 pink grapefruit
  • 1 large onion, cut in half
  • 4-10 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
  • 3-5 green onion leaves, cut small
  • S&P
  • 1 jalapeño pepper
    or more if you can handle the heat
  • 1-2 avocados
  • olive oil
  • 3-5 tortillas, corn (or flour)
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped coarsely

optional:

  • 2-4 plum tomatoes
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1 tsp. mint
  • red bell peppers

 

Pic1: sopa de lima, no avocado

Directions

 

Start the soup

Pic2: chicken, chopped green onion, S&P
Pic3: large onion
Pic4:  jalapeno pepper

 

Spanish-fried tortillas

Pic5: tortilla strips
Pic6: Spanish-fry
Pic7: all done.

 

bitter lime juice

Pic8-10: mix lime & pink grapefruit juice

 

Finish & serve

Pic11: with tomatoes
Pic12: served
Pic13: with avocado

Serving suggestions:


Sopa de Lima on the internet

All pictures below were borrowed from the internet. 

Sopa de lima is a very variable dish that takes on many different forms and colors.
Feel free to experiment to find the ingredient combination that you like best.

 

with and without tomatoes: