Authentic Black Mole

I did a lot of research and watched a lot of videos for this one!  I am lucky enough to have a really good Mexican Grocery nearby where I was able to get all the dried chiles I needed as well as avocado leaves.  If you don't, you can easily order them online. 

Full recipe video is on YouTube, check it out. 

Ingredients (rough estimate, you can adjust to make your own):

Cascabel chiles 1 pkg

Guajillo chiles 1 pkg

Chile Pasilla 1 pkg

Mulato chiles 1pkg

~1 cup Almonds, toasted

~1 TBSP Sesame seeds, toasted

~ 1 cup Peanuts, toasted

1 onion, roughly chopped

5 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 Cinnamon stick

1 TBSP Ancho chili powder

1 TBSP Coriander

1 TBSP Cumin

1 TBSP Mexican oregano

3/4 TBSP Cloves

1 TBSP Pepper

1 green plantain, cut into rounds

~ 1 cup raisins

2 tomato, 3 tomatillos

2 small chunks of bread

2 small corn Tortillas

~3 cups of chicken broth

~1 cup sugar in the raw

~1/4 cup of smoked flaky malden sea salt

1/2 cup canola oil

2.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs - seasoned with salt, pepper, ancho chili powder

~1/2 cup mexican chocolate or dark chocolate

3-4 avocado leaves

Directions: 

1. Remove the seeds from the chiles and reserve. Toast all of the peppers until a dark chocolate color. Place in a bowl with warm water and let hydrate for at least 30 minutes. 

2. In a dry skillet, use about 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup of chile seeds and torch them with a kitchen torch or cigar lighter until black. 

3. Broil or grill the garlic, onion, tomatoes and tomatillos until soft and you have some color on them. 

4. Blend chiles with the water they soaked in. Strain through a medium-grade strainer into a large pot. 

5. Blend all vegetables, nuts and seeds using some chicken broth. Also, strain through a medium-grade strainer into the same pot as the peppers.

6. Add about 1/2 cup oil to the bottom of a large stock pot. Heat over medium heat. Add all of your mole sauce to fry the sauce. Stir.  Cook for about 5 minutes. 

7. Add your spices now

8. Add Mexican chocolate and avocado leaves

9. Cook, over medium low for 1 hour

10. Transfer to a slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours (alternatively you can keep on the stove for 2 hours but you'll need to stir often to avoid burning the bottom). 

11. Return mole to the large stock pot. Taste for seasoning. Here I added about 1/2 cup smoked salt, 2 tbsp season salt 3/4 cup raw sugar. 

Note: Depending on your blender, you may want to use an immersion blender to make your sauce a little smoother here. I originally used a bullet and then transferred through a strainer but I still wanted it a little smoother so I did a few minutes with the immersion blender. 

12. Add 1 cup of water to thin out the mole and add chicken to the pot and cook on medium for 40-45 minutes until chicken is cooked through. 

13. Remove chicken from the mole and ladle some extra sauce on top. 

14. Reserve the rest of the mole for a second use - it freezes well.  I put mine in 2 cup containers to pull out of the freezer in batches as I make other proteins!  

Today I chopped up the chicken and made tostadas. Top the tostada with fire-roasted corn, cilantro, pickled jalepenos and queso fresco. 

Wine pairing: 

KrisTodd

Cabernet Sauvignon

2021

Howell Mountain Napa Valley, CA