When I was researching the matzo ball soup, I came across something amusing: Masa ball soup. It's a Mexican take on the original dish. Both are essentially dumplings in chicken soup. The dumplings here are made of masa, a specially treated corn flour used in tortillas, tamales, etc. The last minor differences are using squash and cilantro instead of carrots and dill. It's those changes that give the dish a Mexican flavor.

The masa ball dough was pretty loose which made me fear that the balls would disintegrate while cooking. Fortunately, they stayed together despite being a bit deformed. Overall, this was the best tasting pun I've eaten, but I prefer the original a little more.

While I had the masa flour out, I decided to try making champurrado, a thickened hot chocolate drink. I felt like the recipe was a bit lacking, so I added some cayenne, cumin, and coriander. It was pretty good, but not the right time of year for hot chocolate. One plus is that it sets up as a pudding when cooled which fit the season better.