How to Cook Chicken Mole
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 2 hours
Ingredients needed to make Chicken Mole:
- 3-4 lb whole chicken, chopped into 8 pieces
- 2 oz Mexican chocolate, coarsely chopped
- ½ small corn tortilla, coarsely chopped
- ¼ ripe banana, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp raisins
- 3 tbsp whole almonds
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 white sandwich bread slice, toasted and crumbled.
- ¼ white onion, peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- ½ tomatillo, husks removed and washed
- ½ small plum tomato, cored
- 1 oz dried pastila chiles
- 1 oz dried ancho chiles
- 2 oz dried mulato chilies
- ½’’ cinnamon stick
- ¼ tsp coriander seeds
- ½ tsp whole cloves
- ¼ tsp black peppercorns
- ½ tsp whole allspice
- ¼ tsp anise seeds
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 tbsp packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp salt to taste
Cooking instructions for Chicken Mole:
- Heat a large skillet over moderate heat and throw in the chiles, working in batches, to toast for a couple of minutes, stirring them once.
- Tip it into a large bowl, and empty 5 cups of boiling water into it.
- Set aside for about 20 minutes or until the chiles absorb some of the water to become soft.
- Drain them out into a colander and reserve the liquid.
- Chop out their stems and deseed them, keeping 1 tsp of the latter aside until required.
- Dump the chiles into a food processor, along with a cup of the reserved liquid and pulse into a smooth puree; set aside
- Fill 4 quart stockpot with 8 cups of water and drop the chicken pieces into it.
- Bring them to a boil over high heat and then reduce it to a simmer over medium low heat.
- Cook the chicken likewise for about 45 minutes and drain them out in a colander; set aside.
- Position an oven rack on top portion of the oven and warm it up to high heat.
- Add the tomato, onion, garlic and tomatillo into a baking sheet, lined with aluminum foil and broil for about 15 minutes or until the veggies are thoroughly charred.
- Dump them into the food processor and pulse into a smooth puree; set aside.
- Melt water in a large saucepan over moderately high heat and throw in the reserved chile seeds and whole spices to cook for about 6 minutes, while stirring frequently, until they toast lightly and become fragrant.
- Stir in the banana and continue to cook for about 12 minutes or until it browns slightly.
- Throw in the chopped tortilla and stir fry for another 6 minutes until they toast slightly.
- Stir in the almonds as well as sesame seeds and toast them for about 8 minutes.
- Pour in the vegetable and chile puree into the above mixture, along with the bread plus raisins and give it a nice stir to mix well.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and lower the heat to moderate-low and simmer for about 15 minutes or until all the elements in the mixture softens.
- Pour this sauce into a blender, along with rest of the reserved liquid and pulse them for about 4 minutes or until they form a smooth puree.
- Reheat the saucepan to moderate-high heat and pour in the canola oil.
- Once it heats up, pour in the above puree or mole sauce and cook for about 5 minutes, while whisking rigorously.
- Plop in the chocolate chunks and brown sugar, along with a dash of salt and cook until they melt and blend into the mixture to form a smooth sauce; this will take about 10 minutes.
- Place the chicken on a serving platter and pour the above sauce over them.
- Top it up with sesame seeds and serve hot with Mexican-style rice.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
