Jan 26, 2007

Mole Negro de Oaxaca

From
Ceja Vineyards
http://www.cejavineyards.com


Ingredients:
· 24 uncooked chicken pieces (legs, thighs, or chicken breasts cut in half)
· 10 chiles negros
· 10 chiles guajillo

· 10 chiles pasilla

· 2 toasted tortillas

· 2½ round tablets of Mexican chocolate (e.g. Ibarra brand)

· 4 tomatoes

· 10 peeled tomatillos

· 1½ onion
· 2 heads of garlic
· 2 tablespoons peeled pumpkin seeds

· 2 tablespoons unsalted peanuts

· 2 tablespoons walnuts

· 2 tablespoons peeled almonds

· 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

· ¼ teaspoon marjoram

· ¼ teaspoon oregano

· 1 teaspoon thyme

· 1teaspoon anise
· 1 teaspoon cumin
· 6 whole pepper corns
· 6 whole cloves
· 1 peel of cinnamon stick

· One slice of Mexican sweet bread

· Chicken broth (about 10 cups)

· Salt to taste

· 10 tablespoons manteca (lard)
(I substituted a light olive for the lard and it worked very well)

Directions:

For Chicken:
· To a large pot of gently boiling water, add the washed chicken pieces, one onion, one unpeeled garlic head and one tablespoon of salt.
· As chicken cooks, spoon out foam and cooked blood that accumulate on the surface (you want to end with a clear and delicious broth).
· Boil gently until tender-do not overcook. Separate chicken from broth and discard onion and garlic head.

For Mole:
· Cut the stems off the chiles negros, guajillo and pasilla and take out the seeds (save the seeds). Wash the chiles and pat dry with a towel.
· In a pan with 3 tablespoons olive oil, sauté chiles a few at a time until crispy but not burned-set aside.
· Add 2 more tablespoons olive oil and sauté pumpkin seeds, peanuts, walnuts, almonds, sesame seeds, chile seeds and one layer of the cinnamon stick until golden-set aside.
· Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and sauté Mexican chocolate until softened-set aside.
· Toast slice of Mexican pan dulce-set aside.
· Over a grill, toast the tortillas until golden.
· Mix together all the sautéed ingredients, toasted tortillas, Mexican bread, marjoram, oregano, thyme, anise, cumin, whole peppers and cloves.
· In a blender or food processor, process the above mixture a little at a time with chicken broth (about 6 cups) until smooth-set aside.
· Over a grill, fire roast tomatoes, tomatillos, ½ onion and 1 head of unpeeled garlic until blackened but not burned.
· Process fire roasted ingredients with 2 cups chicken broth until smooth.
· To a heated large pan with 4 tablespoons of olive oil, add the tomatoes mixture and simmer for about 15 minutes-stir frequently.
· Add processed sautéed mixture to simmering mixture and continue simmering gently (add broth to desired thickness of mole sauce)-stir continuously for one hour. (Serves 12)

To Serve:
Distribute mole sauce on plate and place two chicken pieces on it. Add mole sauce across chicken pieces and serve with warm corn tortillas. ¡Salud!

Suggested wine: Ceja Carneros Pinot Noir, Ceja Merlot and Ceja Vino de Casa

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is similar to my recipe. By chiles negros do you mean pasillas negros or chiles mulattos?

The way different chiles are called by the same name and vice versa in different parts of Mexico is enough to drive anybody into an asylum!