During a past life (career wise) I spent a lot of time in Mexico and have always been a big fan of their bright flavours and simple ingredients. Anything with cilantro is alright in my books. I am not talking about nachos (though those do hit the spot on a patio on a Saturday with a pitcher of beer) or the other things you find at Taco Bell. Mexican food is so much more than Tacos. I am talking about honest to goodness Mexican food at its finest.
Mole has to be one of those gems that I discovered during my time in Mexico. All moles are very time consuming, labor intensive and require many ingredients. Some sources state that some moles have as many as 100 ingredients, but that’s an exaggeration. But 30 ingredients is not unheard of, and some mole recipes contain 10 different varieties of chiles alone. Other ingredients include: peanuts, almonds, fried bread, plantains, lard, sugar, bittersweet chocolate, cinnamon, cloves and many more.
Rumour has it that the story behind this sauce is of two nuns surprised by a visitor (some claim it was the Archbishop). They had little in the way of food and so they used a molcajete (mexican mortar and pestle) to grind every ingredient they could find and simmered it in liquid until it thickened into a sauce.
However it came to be it is a staple in our house. Sometimes we share it with visitors. Below is a simple Mole sauce. We serve it with shredded chicken and turn it into tacos, but it doesn’t always need to be tacos to be Mexican.
Easy Mole Sauce
Ingredients
- 5 dried pasilla or ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
- Two 6-inch corn tortillas, or handful regular tortilla chips
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 medium onions, chopped
- Kosher salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons smooth almond butter
- 2 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 3/4 cups chicken stock
- One 3.1-ounce disk dark chocolate, chopped
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Reconstitute the dried chiles by soaking them in 1 1/2 cups hot water for 15 minutes. Then drain and set aside.
- Toast the corn tortillas in a dry skillet until dry, crisp and golden. Tear into pieces and set aside.
- In the same skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions, season with a little salt and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more.
- Transfer the onion and garlic mixture to a blender with the chiles, tortillas, peanut butter and spices. Pour the chicken stock over and blend until very smooth.
- Then transfer the sauce to a medium sauté pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Stir in the chocolate. Season the mole with salt and pepper.
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