Chili's Enchilada Soup

Once again I failed to read the servings before making the recipe, and lo and behold, I made enough soup to serve 16-20 people! This wouldn't be as bad if Joe was willing to try it and eat some, but of course not.

I didn't read the recipe before hand, so I started in a large pot....umm...that wasn't large enough, so mid way I had to pour everything into the largest pot I had on hand--what'd I'd call my crab steaming pot if we could actually buy live crabs in Omaha.

Either way, I thought the soup was pretty close to Chili's and definitely worth making again, but perhaps only a 1/3 of the recipe next time. Here's the recipe with my adaptations.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup Vegetable oil

1/4 cup Chicken base (I used 1/2 chicken stock)

3 cups diced Yellow Onions

2 tsp. ground Cumin

2 tsp. Chili Powder

2 tsp. granulated Garlic (I grated two cloves instead)

1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper

2 cups Masa Harina (I used 2 1/2 cups)

4 quarts Water (divided)

2 cups crushed Tomatoes

1 can diced chiles (not in original recipe)

1 lb. processed American cheese, cut in small cube (Velveeta)

3 lb. cooked, cubed chicken

DIRECTIONS:

In large pot, place oil, chicken base, onion and spices. Saute until onions are soft and clear, about 5 minutes In another container, combine Masa Harina with 1 quart water. Stir until all lumps dissolve. Add to sauted onions, bring to boil. Once mixture starts to bubble, continue cooking 2－3 minutes, stirring constantly. This will eliminate any raw taste from Masa harina. Add remaining 3 quarts water to pot. Add tomatoes; let mixture return to boil stirring occasionally. Add cheese to soup. Cook stirring occasionally, until cheese melts. Add chicken; heat through.

Makes 1 1/2 gallons or 16－20 servings.