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1
Place a dry heavy-based pan or comal over a high flame. Lay the halved onion and unpeeled garlic cloves cut-side down. Char without moving until deeply blackened on the contact surface, 5–7 minutes. The skin of the garlic will blister and the onion will be nearly black where it touches the pan — this is correct.
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2
Transfer the charred onion and garlic to a large pot. Add the chicken pieces and the water. Bring to a simmer, skim the surface, and salt. Simmer, partially covered, until the chicken is cooked through and the broth has taken on the flavour of the charred aromatics. The broth must smell roasted and savoury, not raw.
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3
Lift out the chicken. Strip the meat from the bones in large pieces and reserve. Discard bones, charred onion, and garlic skins. Return the clear broth to a gentle simmer.
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4
Add the chipotle in adobo whole to the simmering broth. For deeper chile distribution, blend 1–2 chiles with a ladleful of broth until smooth, then stir the purée back in. This step determines the smokiness and complexity of the finished soup — a flat broth with insufficient chipotle cannot be corrected at the table; this is where the dish lives or dies.
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5
Add the cooked chickpeas. They must be fully tender before entering the broth — press one between thumb and forefinger; it should yield without resistance. Simmer 10 minutes to marry the chickpea flavour into the broth.
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6
Return the reserved chicken meat to the broth. Add the epazote sprigs. Simmer for exactly 10 minutes — no longer. The broth will carry a clean, herbal, slightly resinous scent; prolonged cooking makes epazote bitter.
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7
Ladle into warmed deep bowls. Lay slices of fresh avocado across the surface of each portion. Add a spoonful of sour cream. Set a wedge of lime and a dried chile on the rim of each bowl. The avocado is never added during cooking.