Place chicken in a large stockpot and cover with water.
Add salt, bay leaves, and bring to a boil.
Allow to simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes occasionally skimming off any foam that comes to the surface.
Make the sauce
Place tomatoes on a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
Turn off the heat, then add the guajillo chilies, pushing them with a spoon to allow them to soak well in the hot water. Leave everything to rest for 10 minutes.
Place tomatoes, guajillo chilies, onion, and garlic into a blender (read note 1).
Add 1 cup of water and blend until smooth. Set aside.
Start the tesmole
Pour in the sauce straining through a sieve into the pot with chicken.
Add all vegetables to the pot.
Stir and adjust salt to taste. If needed, add more water to the pot (read note 2).
Simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
Make the corn dumplings
Place masa harina, epazote, and lard into a bowl. Pour in water, then add salt.
Using one had, mix all ingredients to combine and then knead for 1 minute to form a dough.
Pinch off a bit of dough with your fingertips and make a ball.
Now, press with your thumb in the middle forming a small hole. Repeat the steps until you’ll make 8 dumplings (read note 3).
Finish the tesmole
Carefully add, one by one, the masa corn dumplings into the chicken broth.
Gently stir to allow dumplings to immerse well into the broth (read note 4).
Simmer for 15 minutes until all ingredients are cooked through and the soup has become a little thicker.
Notes
You can replace guajillo chilies with 1 ½ tablespoon of guajillo, Anaheim, or Hatch chili powder.
Make sure ingredients are always covered with liquid.
If it’s easier for you, use a kitchen scale and divide the dough before making the dumplings.
Add the dumplings carefully into the broth to prevent them from falling apart.
Is ok if a few dumplings fall apart, as far as are just a few! Those are the ones that will give a little more consistency to the tesmole.
You can replace fresh epazote with cilantro, dried epazote, or hierba santa.