Gourmet Black Mole Sauce Recipes

MOLE NEGRO OAXAQUENO: OAXACAN BLACK MOLE

Steps:

• In a 2 gallon stockpot, heat 5 quarts water and onions, celery, and carrots to a boil. Add chicken pieces and poach, covered, over low heat for about 35 to 45 minutes, until cooked through and juices run clear when pierced with a fork. Remove the meat from the stock. Strain and reserve the stock.
• Heat 2 quarts of water in a kettle. On a 10-inch dry comal, griddle, or in a cast-iron frying pan, toast the chiles over medium heat until blackened, but not burnt, about 10 minutes. Place the chiles in a large bowl, cover with hot water, and soak for 1/2 hour. Remove the chiles from the soaking water with tongs, placing small batches in a blender with 1/4 cup of the chile soaking water to blend smooth. Put the chile puree through a strainer to remove the skins.
• In the same dry comal, griddle, or frying pan, grill the onion and garlic over medium heat for 10 minutes. Set aside. Toast the almonds, peanuts, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, and cloves in a dry comal, griddle or cast-iron frying pan for about 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan.
• Over the same heat, toast the chile seeds, taking care to blacken but not burn them, about 20 minutes. Try to do this outside or in a well-ventilated place because the seeds will give off very strong fumes. When the seeds are completely black, light them with a match and let them burn themselves out. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl. Soak the blackened seeds in 1 cup of cold water for 10 minutes. Drain the seeds and grind them in a blender for about 2 minutes. Add the blended chile seeds to the blended chile mixture.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in an 8-inch cast-iron frying pan over medium heat until smoking. Add the raisins and fry them until they are plump, approximately 1 minute. Remove from the pan. Fry the bread slice in the same oil until browned, about 5 minutes, over medium heat. Remove from pan. Fry the plantain in the same oil until it is well browned, approximately 10 minutes, over medium heat. Set aside. Fry the sesame seeds, stirring constantly over low heat, adding more oil if needed. When the sesame seeds start to brown, about 5 minutes, add the pecans and brown for 2 minutes more. Remove all from the pan, let cool, and grind finely in a spice grinder. It takes a bit of time, but this is the only way to grind the seeds and nuts finely enough.
• Wipe out the frying pan and fry the tomatoes, tomatillos, thyme, and oregano over medium to high heat, allowing the juices to almost evaporate, about 15 minutes. Blend well, using 1/2 cup of reserved stock if needed to blend and set aside. Place the nuts, bread, plantains, raisins, onion, garlic and spices in the blender in small batches, and blend well, adding about 1 cup of stock to make it smooth.
• In a heavy 4-quart stockpot, heat 2 tablespoons of lard or oil until smoking and fry the chile paste over medium to low heat, stirring constantly so it will not burn, approximately 20 minutes. When it is dry, add the tomato puree and fry until the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add the ground ingredients, including the sesame seed paste, to the pot. Stir constantly with a wooden soon until well-incorporated, about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken stock to the mole, stir well, and allow to cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Break up the chocolate and add to the pot, stirring until it is melted and incorporated into the mixture.
• Toast the avocado leaf briefly over the flame if you have a gas range or in a dry frying pan and then add it to the pot. Slowly add more stock to the mole, as it will keep thickening as it cooks. Add enough salt to bring out the flavor. Let simmer another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so it does not stick, adding stock as needed. The mole should not be thick; just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Place the cooked chicken pieces in the leftover stock in a saucepan and heat through.
• To serve, place a piece of chicken in a shallow bowl and ladle 3/4 of a cup of mole sauce over to cover it completely. Serve immediately with lots of hot corn tortillas.
• You can use oil instead of lard to fry the mole, but the flavor will change dramatically. In our pueblo, people traditionally use turkey instead of chicken, and sometimes add pieces of pork and beef to enhance the flavor. You can use leftover mole and chicken meat to make Enmoladas or Tamales Oazaquenos made with banana leaves.
• Inspired by Maria Taboada and Paula Martinez

GOURMET BLACK MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Place the basic mole in a saucepan.
• Dissolve the tamarind concentrate in the chicken broth.
• Add the processed huitlacoche.
• Add these ingredients to the basic mole.
• Cook until flavors blend together. Simmer for about 5 minutes after it starts boiling.
• Serve over cooked chicken or turkey pieces.

BLACK MOLE

Steps:

• For the chicken broth: Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Place all 8 pieces of chicken in a large heavy pot with 8 cups boiling water. Add the garlic, onion and salt. Bring to a boil again. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 1 hour. Remove the chicken and set aside. Maintain a medium heat under the broth as you'll use it again for this recipe.
• For the roasted vegetables: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the tomatoes, onion and garlic onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and roast until the skins are blistered and the vegetables softened, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool. Once cooled, remove the foil and peel the garlic and the skins off the tomatoes.
• For the mole: In a large heavy saute pan heat 1 cup lard. Quick fry the chiles in the hot lard, being careful not to burn them or they'll become bitter. Add the chiles into the pot of chicken broth and simmer for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, add 2 tablespoons lard to the saute pan and fry the roasted onions and garlic. Add the tortilla and bolillo and cook for 5 minutes. Add the peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, blanched almonds, raisins, oregano, cumin, thyme, coriander seeds, whole black peppercorns and cinnamon stick. Saute for 4 minutes and remove from the heat. Cool slightly. Remove the cinnamon stick and discard.
• Working in two batches, transfer half of the cooled nut and seed mixture into a large-capacity blender. Then transfer half of the simmered chiles, without the broth, into the blender. Add half of the roasted tomatoes and fresh tomatillos. Allow to cool before blending. Process until smooth. A paste will form. If the mixture is too dry, add 1 cup of reserved chicken broth at a time. Strain the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Then repeat with the remaining ingredients, processing until smooth and then strain.
• Clean the saute pan and place over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lard. Pour in the strained mole sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Season with the salt, some pepper and the sugar. Add 1 1/2 cups of the reserved chicken broth and stir to combine. Add the Mexican chocolate and stir to melt. Simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered. Return the chicken to the saucepan with the mole and cook until the chicken is warmed through, an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large serving bowl or platter. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and a couple pinches of sugar if desired. Drizzle the Mexican crema over the chicken mole and serve hot.

BLACK MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Quickly fry the chiles in hot lard, being careful not to let them burn. Place the fried chiles in a large saucepan in hot water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer until soft. In the same hot lard, sauté the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the tortillas, bread, almonds, peanuts, cinnamon, reserved chile seeds, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, thyme, marjoram, oregano, coriander seeds, peppercorns, cloves, raisins and chocolate. Sauté for a few minutes. Purée this mixture with the tomatoes and the chiles. Strain the puree and cook in 8 tablespoons lard. Stir in sugar and salt to taste and 2 cups/500 ml of the turkey broth. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the turkey, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes to blend flavors. If the mixture is too thick, add more turkey broth as needed.

TOFU WITH MEXICAN MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over high heat; saute the onions and green pepper until the onions are browned, about 8 minutes.
• Add the garlic and saute for 30 more seconds.
• Lower the heat to medium-low and add the tomatoes, chilies, cinnamon and thyme.
• Stir until the mixture reaches the consistency of a paste, about 5 more minutes.
• Add the stock and cilantro; simmer on very low heat for 30 minutes.
• Stir in the cocoa until it is combined and simmer for another 10 minutes.
• Season with salt.
• Heat the vegatable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; add the tofu, lightly browning both sides, about 3 minutes per side.
• Place 3 slices of tofu on each of 6 plates; cover evenly with the mole sauce.

EMERIL'S MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F Place the nuts, peppers and onions on a baking sheet.
• Drizzle with 1T olive oil. Roast for 10-15 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and peel, seed and chop the peppers.
• In a food processor combine the nuts, peppers, onions, chili powder, cumin, salt, tamarind paste, 1T dark cane syrup, vinegar and olive oil.
• Puree until creamy, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl.
• Turn the sauce into a saucepan.
• Whisk in the chicken stock and cream.
• Bring the sauce up to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
• Cook for two minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm.

ALMOND CHICKEN MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine first nine ingredients through cloves in blender and mix until smooth, adding the oil and chicken broth gradually.
• Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and add spice paste (from blender), cooking on medium heat until fragrant.
• Add tomatoes, sauce, peppers, garlic, broth and seasonings and simmer for five minutes until thickened and creamy.
• Serve over chicken or fish.

MOLE BLANCO -- WHITE MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Fry first eleven ingredients together until golden.
• Remove from pan, place in container of blender or food processor with a little chicken stock; whirl until smooth and return to the pan.
• Add the remaining chicken broth and the white chocolate and set to simmer for half an hour.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Once it has reached the desired thickness, it is ready for dressing any meat you would like, preferably chicken.