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Xonequi

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I

Origin

{'town': 'Xico', 'state': 'Veracruz', 'subregion': 'Sierra de Chiconquiaco highland coffee country, central Veracruz'}

II

Description

A deeply satisfying black bean soup from Xico, in the highland coffee country of Veracruz, built around the obscure climbing green xonequi (Ipomoea dumosa, a wild morning glory relative) or Swiss chard as its widely available stand-in. Smoky chipotle mora chiles thread through the broth, while small masa dumplings — enriched with lard, onion, and epazote — swell gently in the pot and thicken every spoonful. Diana Kennedy documented this as a true village preparation: humble in its parts, complex in its result.

III

The Thread

—Both soups use black beans as the structural base and rely on a dried smoked chile — pasilla negro in Oaxaca, chipotle mora in Xico — to build a broth with depth beyond the bean itself. The Oaxacan version omits masa dumplings but shares the same principle of a simple, region-specific green added late to preserve freshness against a long-cooked base. Oaxacan
—Both are thickened bean soups from specific highland towns with a strong peasant identity, where starch — bread in Ribollita, masa dumplings in Xonequi — is added not as garnish but as a functional thickener that changes the body of the soup as it cooks. Both dishes resist scaling up elegantly: their character belongs to small-batch, slow village cooking. Italian · (Tuscan)
—From the same Xico kitchen tradition documented by Diana Kennedy, the mole verde of Xico also uses small masa-and-lard dumplings simmered directly in the sauce — the same technique and the same dumpling formula. Understanding one preparation explains the other; the dumpling is a signature of this specific highland town, not of Veracruz broadly. Veracruz · Highland · (Xicano)
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Flavour Context

The broth is earthy and dark, with the iron-rich bitterness of black beans undercut by the fruity, tobacco-smoke heat of chipotle mora — a slower, more aromatic heat than chipotle meco. The xonequi leaf (or chard standing in) contributes a mineral grassiness that keeps the soup from feeling heavy, while the lard-enriched masa dumplings dissolve at their edges into the broth, giving each spoonful a starchy, slightly slick body. The epazote inside the dumplings blooms as they cook, threading a resinous, medicinal note through every bite.

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