Summer Squash Vine and Flower Soup

This pre-Hispanic soup is a favorite in Oaxaca during the rainy season when the corn, chepil (a wild herb) and the guías (tender young vines and leaves of the güiche squash plant) are fresh and producing baby squash and lots of brilliant yellow flowers. In the campo, you see women carrying huge bunches of squash vine tips on their heads, and in the markets they are laid out on straw petates to be sold. After the Spanish brought domesticated pigs to the New World from which lard was rendered, the women added chochoyones (dumplings made from ground corn and lard) to the soup. The accompanying sauce is the “chile bravo” sauce, named for the fierce bite of the chiles it uses. The women who sell the fresh vegetables for this soup always sell tiny bunches of the red and very dark green, almost black, chiles bravos. They are small, pointed, and very hot. In some villages they are also called chiles parados, which means ¨standing up¨ because this is the way they grow-standing upright on the bush.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Sopa de Guías.jpg — Ingredients

**For the guías:**
1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
1 small head garlic, finely chopped
4 fresh ears of corn, cleaned and sliced in rounds 1½” thick (about 6 cups)
4 bunches guías (about 6 cups)
3 cups chepil leaves
5 small round güiche squash (1¼ pounds) or zucchini
4 bunches güiche squash flowers (16 flowers or 2½ cups), pistil and sepals removed; flowers torn into halves and rinsed in water
Sea salt to taste
**For Salsa de Chile Bravo:**
3 fresh chiles bravos, stemmed, or substitute fresh Thai chiles or the hottest chile jalapeños you can find 3 large ripe plum tomatoes
5 garlic cloves
½ lime, juiced or a splash of fruit vinegar
Sea salt to taste
**For the chochoyones:**
½ pound prepared masa for tortillas or 1 cup masa harina for tortillas
1 tablespoon lard
½ teaspoon sea salt
**For serving:**
4 limes, halved

Method

For the guías:

In a large stockpot, heat 4½ quarts of water with the onion and garlic to a boil. Lower the heat and add the corn rounds and cook, covered, for ½ hour.

Clean stem and tendrils of the guías, using the youngest part of the plant and softest leaves. Strip the larger stems of the fibers and cut into small pieces.

Clean the chepil leaves thoroughly. Cut the squash into wedges 1 inch thick.

Add the squash vine greens, chepil leaves, young squash and the flowers to the soup. Allow to cook, covered, at least 30 minutes or until vegetables are cooked. Season with sea salt.

For Salsa de Chile Bravo:

Make a slit in each chile before you toast it so it doesn’t jump off the comal or explode in your face. Roast the tomatoes, chiles and garlic on a dry comal, griddle or cast iron frying pan. Allow them to cool. Remove the tomato skins and discard.

In the molcajete or blender, grind the chiles and garlic until smooth. Add the peeled tomatoes one by one, slowly, so they don’t spurt up into your eyes. Add the lime juice and salt

For the chochoyones:

If using prepared masa, mix the masa with the lard and salt in a mixing bowl. If using masa harina, mix the harina with 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water in a mixing bowl until you have a soft dough. Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Add the lard and salt. Mix in well.

Roll the dough into 35 small balls. Make an indentation in the center of each one with your finger and continue until chochoyones are made. While the soup is simmering, slip the chochoyones into the soup. Cook until firm, about 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with salsa de chile bravo and the limes.