Oaxacan Black Mole
Submitted by my68kitten
Oaxacan black mole simmered with charred pasilla chiles, Mexican chocolate, toasted nuts, and fried tortillas. The iconic sauce of saints and celebrations, spooned over poached chicken.
YIELD
10 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
1 hrsREADY
2 hrsOaxaca’s crown jewel. Mole negro is one of the seven great Oaxacan moles and arguably the most complex sauce in all of Mexican cooking. You char pasilla chile seeds until they turn coal-black, toast dried chiles to near-charring, fry tomatoes, almonds, peanuts, raisins, sesame seeds, onion, and corn tortillas one by one, then blend every fried element into a dark, glossy sauce and finish with Mexican chocolate.
The charred chile seeds are what give mole negro its signature color. The chocolate is there to soften and round out the heat, not to make the sauce sweet. Simmered until it just coats a wooden spoon, it gets ladled over poached chicken for a Sunday dinner that takes all afternoon and is worth every minute.
Traditionally served for weddings, saints’ days, and Día de los Muertos. Don’t be intimidated by the length of the ingredient list. Take it one pan at a time.
Pro Tips
- Burning the chile seeds is the point. They have to blacken to give mole negro its namesake color; lightly toasted seeds give you a lesser mole coloradito.
- Fry every component one at a time, not together. Each ingredient needs its own heat and time, and combining shortcuts ruins the flavor layers.
- Use Mexican chocolate with cinnamon, not American chocolate chips. Ibarra or Taza Chocolate Mexicano are authentic; baking chocolate will taste wrong.
- The sauce can be made 2 or 3 days ahead. The flavor deepens considerably in the fridge, like a good curry.
Variations
- Blend pasillas with chilhuacle negro and mulato for the most traditional Oaxacan chile mix.
- Use turkey instead of chicken for a traditional fiesta version.
- Spoon mole over roasted winter squash or portobello mushrooms for a vegetarian take.
Ingredients
Directions
Put the chicken into a saucepan with the garlic, onions, and mint.
Add water to cover and salt to taste.
Bring to a simmer, cover the pan, and continue simmering until the chicken is just tender - about 35 minutes.
Strain, reserving the broth.
Remove stems from the dried chilies, if any, slit them open, and remove seeds and veins, reserving the seeds.
Toast the chilies for about 50 seconds on each side; if you’re using guajillos, toast them longer, until they are almost charred - about 2 minutes.
Rinse the chilies in cold water, cover with hot water, and leave to soak for about 30 minutes.
Put the reserved chile seeds into an ungreased frying pan and toast over fairly high heat, shaking them around from time to time so that they brown evenly.
Then raise the heat and char until black.
Cover with cold water and set aside to soak for about 5 minutes.
Strain and put into a blender jar.
Add the broiled tomatoes, unpeeled, to the blender jar along with the water, cloves, allspice, thyme, marjoram, and oregano.
Heat some of the lard in a small frying pan and fry the sesame seed until a deep golden color - a few seconds.
Strain, putting the fat back into the pan and the seeds into the blender jar, and blend as smooth as possible.
Fry the rest of the ingredients, except the chilies and chocolate, one by one, strain, and put into the blender jar, blending after each addition and adding water or broth as necessary to release the blades.
Heat ¼ cup of the lard in the heavy pan in which you are going to cook the mole, add the blended mixture, and fry over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan from time to time, for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, put a few of the chilies and about 2 cups of the water in which they were soaking into the blender jar and blend until smooth.
When you have blended all the chilies, add them to the fried ingredients together with the chocolate and cook for 5 minutes longer.
Add about 4 cups of the chicken broth and continue cooking for 35 minutes.
Add more broth if necessary - the mole should just coat the back of a wooden spoon - along with the chicken and salt to taste; cook for 10 minutes longer.
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