Sopa de Lima

If there is one traditional dish in the Yucatan Peninsula, this is it. Literally translated as “lime soup”, this is more of a spicy chicken with tomato soup. Contrary to the name, limes are not the major ingredient in this savory and standard soup. It is basically a chicken or turkey vegetable soup flavored with limes and made nicely hot with a touch of habanero peppers. A wonderfully different soup which can be served with dinner or by itself. The unique bittersweet limes of the Yucatan, variously referred to as “lima agria,” are hard to find in Chicago, but you can usually get them at Hispanic food markets. It is a kissing cousin to the Key Lime of Florida, but since even that is often hard to come by, I’ve made it with regular old Persian limes. I first had this soup at a little restaurant (more like a glorified kitchen) in the back streets of Cozumel in the late 80s. We befriended the owner and, after several return trips to Mexico, I asked him if I could talk to his chef about their preparation. This recipe is a combination of that recipe, my own experimentation and some tidbits I picked up in some old Mexican cookbooks. This seems like a lot of work, but it’s worth it.