Mole sauce is famous for having chocolate in it, but the chocolate is just one small ingredient.
This sauce is a dark concoction of chiles, seeds, nuts and spices that is fragrant and a little bit spicy.
Make sure to use Mexican chocolate for this recipe (which has sugar and almonds in it).
The mole can and should be made ahead. Refrigerate until needed. It keeps several days.
Mole is the classic accompaniment to roasted or smoked turkey.
The night before you are going to make the mole, you must soak the chiles below.
Remove the stems and seeds from the chiles, place in a bowl and cover with warm water.
Cover with plastic wrap and let soak overnight.
6 dried ancho chiles
6 dried New Mexico chiles
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup cooked tomatillos (from a can, drained)
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground coriander
¼ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ cup raw sesame seeds
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
20 whole almonds, skins on
2 Tbl. raisins
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbl. vegetable oil
1 slice dry French bread
1½ oz. Mexican chocolate
4 cups chicken or turkey stock
salt as needed
The next day:
Remove the soaked chiles from the water to a food processor ( working in batches if needed) and add enough of the soaking water to make a good puree, using in total no more than 1 cup water.
In a large saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat.
Add the chile puree and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Put the tomatillos in the food processor and puree. Add to the chile mixture.
Add the cinnamon, cloves, coriander and pepper. Stir and turn down to low.
In a small frying pan, heat the 2 Tbl. vegetable oil. Toast the sesame seeds over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a clean food processor bowl.
In the same pan, fry the pumpkin seeds until they pop. Remove with spoon and add to sesame seeds.
In the same pan, roast the almonds until they are toasted and add to seeds.
In the same pan, toast the raisins until briefly and add to seeds and nuts.
Break the bread into pieces and fry in the pan until toasted. Add to seeds and nuts.
Now process the mixture until it forms a smooth paste, adding a little water or stock if needed to make it smooth.
Add this mixture to the chile sauce in the saucepan and continue to cook over low heat.
Break the chocolate into pieces and add to the sauce. Stir until melted and cook, stirring for another
10 minutes.
Add the stock and cook the sauce over low heat for about 1 hour, stirring as needed to keep from
sticking. Taste for salt and add as needed. Let the sauce cool and then refrigerate.
Recipe by Jane O'Riordan, Domaine de la Terre Rouge, 2007
Adapted from many recipes, most notably Diana Kennedy's, The Cuisines of Mexico
