Mole Recipes

Two Mexican Mole Recipes

Below, two recipes. First, Mole Coloradito from My Mexico, Diana Kennedy (Clarkson Potter, 1998). And Black Mole Sauce from Saveur.com

Mole Coloradito

Recipe: Diana Kennedy (from My Mexico, Clarkson Potter 1998).

1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
salt to taste
10 large pieces/servings of chicken
8 ancho chiles*
18 guajillo chiles*
1-1/2 lbs. tomatoes
1/3 c. sesame seeds
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 medium white onion, cut into quarters
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp. dried
4 sprigs fresh marjoram or 1/4 tsp. dried
4 cloves
4 peppercorns
1-inch cinnamon stick
lard for frying
3/4 cups pecans
heaped 1/2 c. unskinned almonds
heaped 1/2 c. raisins
6 1/2-inch thick slices of sweet yeast roll
1 1-1/2 ounce tablet of Mexican drinking chocolate*

INGREDIENTS NOTE: Chances are there’s a little Hispanic store somewhere in your vicinity that will have all these ingredients and maybe also some decent lard. Check the refrigerated section. Or, you might be lucky enough to find these ingredients at a larger supermarket. For the chiles, buy dried but still flexible chiles.

1. In a large pot, boil enough water to cover the chicken. Add the chopped onion and peeled garlic with salt to taste. Boil for about 10 minutes. Lower heat, add the chicken pieces, cover and simmer until almost cooked, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside, reserving the broth for the mole.

2. Slit the chiles open, removing the seeds and veins. Toast lightly on a hot griddle, rinse in cold water, and soak in warm water for about 10 minutes. Drain, keeping the anchos separated from the guajillos.

3. Cover the tomatoes with water and simmer until soft but not falling apart, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Toast the sesame seeds in an ungreased pan over medium heat, stirring from time to time so that they brown evenly. Don’t burn! Set aside to cool and grind to a textured powder in a coffee/spice grinder. Set aside.

4. Put the unpeeled garlic and quartered onion onto an ungreased comal or griddle and cook over medium heat, turning the pieces from time to time, until translucent and slightly charred. Peel the garlic and put into a blender with 3/4 cup (188 ml) of the chicken broth. Add the onion, herbs, and spices and blend as smooth as possible. Add the anchos little by little, blending after each addition and adding more broth only if needed to release the blender blade.

5. Heat 3 tablespoons of lard in a heavy pot in which you are going to cook the mole. Add the blended ingredients and fry, scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking, over low heat. Meanwhile, add another 3/4 cup of the broth to the blender and blend the guajillos a few at a time until they are as smooth as possible. Add them to the pan, pressing the puree through a fine strainer to extract as much of the juice and flesh as possible. Discard the debris. Continue cooking the mixture while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

6. Heat a little more of the lard in a skillet and fry the pecans, almonds, and raisins separately, transferring each of them to a strainer to drain off the excess lard. Finally, fry the bread slices. Crush all the ingredients together so that you do not strain your blender to its limits. Add 1 cup of broth to the blender, add the crushed ingredients, and blend to a textured paste. Add the paste to the pan. Stir well and cook over low heat.

7. Add the tomatoes to the blender and blend until almost smooth. Add to the pan together with the chocolate and 2 more cups (500 ml) of the broth and cook over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, for about 15 minutes. When the mole is well seasoned, adjust the salt, add the chicken pieces and cook for 10 more minutes.

Black Mole Sauce
Saveur Magazine

Nuts, chocolate, herbs, and spices all impart color to this mole, but it's the charring of the stems and seeds of the chiles that really gives it the dark hue. One of the seven classic moles of Oaxaca, Mexico, this sauce is typically served over chicken. MAKES 3 CUPS

10 dried guajillo chiles, washed
7 dried mulato negro chiles, washed
7 dried pasilla chiles, washed
4 tbsp. corn oil
1 6" square dry bread
8 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small white onion, peeled and quartered
2 whole cloves
1 tsp. ground canela (Mexican cinnamon)
1 tsp. anise
3 black peppercorns
4 whole allspice
1 large plantain
2 prunes, pitted
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 oz. almonds
1 oz. sesame seeds, toasted until golden
2 oz. raisins
1 yerba santa leaf

1. Stem, seed, and devein chiles, reserving everything. Sear stems, seeds, and ribs in a cast-iron skillet over high heat until charred black. (Don't worry, this is a secret of real mole, but avoid breathing smoke or getting it in your eyes.) Cool, then rinse in a fine strainer to wash out bitterness and white ashes. Set aside.

2. In the same pan, heat 2 tbsp, of the oil and brown bread on both sides. Remove from pan. Add 1 tbsp. of the remaining oil, add garlic and onions, and cook until tender and golden.

3.Soak chiles in 3 cups very hot water until soft. Meanwhile, mix cloves, canela, anise, peppercorns, and allspice. Using a spice mill or mortar and pestle, grind spices very fine. Combine charred stems, seeds, ribs, chiles (reserve soaking water), garlic, onions, ground spices, plantain, prunes, chocolate, almonds, sesame seeds, raisins, bread, and yerba santa. Using the food grinder attachment to an electric mixer or a blender, grind in small batches until very smooth. Use soaking water as needed to process the mole into a thick paste.

# Put paste in nonstick pan brushed with remaining 1 tbsp. oil. Fry paste until thick, fragrant, slightly golden on all surfaces, about 20 minutes. It should be a dense, dry, toasty-looking smooth paste. Cool, then refrigerate or freeze until needed. Thin with diluted chicken stock to a sauce consistency. Serve with poached chicken or turkey.