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.
Submitted by: Jim Jim Domiano from Chicago, Illinois, USA
Yield: 8 to 12 servings (depending on your appetite!)
Spices
Featured in this Recipe
Preparation Instructions:
thespicehouse.com
To the previous commentator — as someone who grew up speaking Spanish, I can say with pretty good authority that “lima” translates as “lime” and “limon” as “lemon”, at least in Mexico. And I’ve eaten a million portions of Sopa de Lima, and never seen it made with lemons, Yucatan or otherwise.
The reason I would not make this recipe again, is that I have quite a few other versions that I prefer. I I would not ever add epazote to this soup, nor cookl it with the chile habenero, instead adding it as a salsa to taste when serving it.
Although this is probably considered the most representative soup of Yucatan, it seems to have been an invention of Chef Katun in 1946, in his restaurant in Merida.
Just a thought or two from someone who lived in the Yucatan for a few years and ate Sopa de Lima many times while living there (including visits to Cozumel, where the contributor got the recipe). I suspect that there was a minor error made when translating the instructions. The word “Lima” in spanish is translated as “Lemon”, and the word “Limon” in spanish is translated as “Lime”. In reality…Sopa de Lima is “Soup of Lemon” and Lemons should be used instead of Limes for the recipe to be authentic to the region. Although the use of limes would produce a tasty citrus flavor similar to the original, this recipe as published should actually be called, “Sopa de Limon”.
I am sorry to disagree with all of you: LIMA is a mexican fruit that is grown in the southeast of Mexico and is neither a lemon nor a lime it is a diferent sweetish fruit with a very nice odor. Lemon is limon, lime is limon criollo or mexican limon and LIMA IS LIMA..and it is used in this traditional recipie.. I have lived in Mexico my whole lif and know this for sure so to make this wonderful soup it is necesary ti have limas this recipie is OK but it coes not use epazote and the chile is served apart as a seperate garnish. You chop the habaneros with onion (preferably red onion), and you add lime juce (LIMON), and a bit of olive oil and plenty of oregano.