The origins of tortilla soup may be a mystery, but its intriguing flavor has long made it a California favorite.

By Barbara Hansen, Times Staff Writer

Classic tortilla soup, the way you'd find it in Mexico City, is simply good chicken broth combined with roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, chiles and tortillas, cut into strips and fried. It's wonderfully satisfying, "a sort of soul food soup," as Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy puts it.

In California, it's often made with a tomato base thickened with ground tortillas, but there are variations, such as a bean soup enriched with crunchy strips of fried tortillas.

"To be really authentic, the soup should have only a little white onion, raw not cooked, blended with roasted tomato," says Kennedy, speaking from her home near Zitácuaro in the state of Michoacán.