Photo: Chicken Mole Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 (4-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
- 1 medium white onion, peeled and quartered
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 1 sprig oregano
- 1 sprig thyme
- Cilantro stems
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- Steamed white rice or Mexican rice, accompaniment
- Chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish
- Corn Tortillas, accompaniment
Mole Sauce:
- 4 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deveined
- 4 dried mulato chiles
- 4 pasilla chiles
- 1 quart chicken stock, reserved from poaching chicken, above
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons shelled unsalted peanuts
- 1 medium white onion, cut into large dice
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
- 3 black peppercorns
- 2 whole cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1/2 corn tortilla, torn into small pieces
- 2 ounces Mexican chocolate or unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
In a large pot, place the chicken, quartered onion, garlic, oregano, thyme, cilantro, and peppercorns. Cover with water by 2 inches and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes, occasionally skimming any foam that rises to the surface. Remove the chicken and set aside. Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer and reserve for the mole.
In a large heavy dry skillet, toast the chiles to a deep brown color over medium-high heat, turning, 1 to 2 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with hot stock, and soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and transfer to a blender. Puree, adding chicken stock as necessary, to blend.
In a large skillet or saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the sesame seeds and peanuts, and cook, stirring, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and add to the blender with the chiles. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the pan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft and starting to color, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the cinnamon, black peppercorns, cloves, and coriander seeds and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add to the blender. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the tortilla pieces, and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add to the blender with enough of the chile soaking liquid (or chicken stock) to puree to a paste.
To the skillet, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add the paste and and simmer, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken stock, the chocolate, and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and cook, stirring, to melt the chocolate. Add the cooked chicken and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, adding more stock, as needed, if the sauce becomes too thick, and basting the chicken occasionally as it cooks. Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, to taste.
To serve, spoon the rice into the center of a large platter. Arrange the chicken and sauce over the top, garnish with chopped cilantro, and serve with hot corn tortillas
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By fkozzy
on December 22, 2012
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The mole sauce was well worth the effort. Took longer than I expected to achieve a paste form from the food processor. Made the paste the day before & just added it to the tomato puree when I was ready. Not too sweet or not too spicy.
By tdmoreno
on August 15, 2011
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I spent the day making this recipe with my parents and the results were phenomenal. Our family has made this 3-4 times and it does take several hours so be prepared. My grandmother is from Mexico and used to make mole every month but her recipe was lost as she now has dementia and it was never written down. I think some of the reviews of this recipe seem to be written by people who do not eat mole often. Mole is a complex dish that is not overly sweet, bitter, savory, spicy, or anything else. I think Emeril has developed a very balanced recipe that my grandmother would have loved in her prime. It does take some time but the results are worth it. As an alternative, Rick Bayless has a Oaxacan Black Mole recipe he made for a Mexico state dinner that also looks to be really good.
By TS888
on May 27, 2011
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3 star rating based on recipe as written. Modified it, I would give it 5 stars. When the sauce was done, I tasted it and it just does not have any sweetness. I like a sweeter mole. I found this recipe to be chalky and bitter. I added sugar a tablespoon at a time until I had added 3 TBS of sugar and it started to improve. But it needed more than just sweetness. It needed more fruitiness to bring out all the flavors. I thought of dried figs, common in some mole. Fortunately I had dried figs in the house. I put a heaping cup of dried figs in the blender and added stock to just cover them. I liquefied them in the blender, added them to the sauce, stirred - and simmered to reduce to the right consistency. Voila! Now it was a 5 star mole: really incredibly good. Another note... to save time, I roasted the peppers first and had them soak in hot stock (which I was careful to keep at 160 degrees or higher to be safe while cooking the chicken. It still was a multi-hour event.
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