Mole poblano
The best known of Mexico's moles and often misdescribed: this is not a chocolate sauce. Chocolate is a fraction of the ingredients and is not there to turn it into dessert; it deepens the flavour and adds a note of bitterness. The real base is three kinds of dried chilli, each with a role: ancho for fruity sweetness and body, mulato for depth and dark colour, pasilla for herbal bitterness. With just one kind the sauce is noticeably less complex.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Chillies 40 min
- Toasting the additions 30 min
- Grinding 30 min
- Frying the paste 20 min
- Simmering 90 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneClean and toast the chillies
Remove the stems and seeds, then toast the chillies on a dry griddle for 20 seconds a side. Briefly and attentively: one scorched chilli embitters the whole batch, and that is three hours of work discarded.
Ingredients: 6 pcs ancho chillies · 5 pcs mulato chillies · 4 pcs pasilla chillies · 1200 ml chicken stock
Twenty seconds a side — scorched ones ruin everything.Soak the chillies in hot stock
Cover the chillies with 500 ml of hot stock and weigh them down with a plate so they stay submerged. Soak 30 minutes, until completely soft. Keep the soaking stock — it is the liquid base of the whole sauce; the rest of the stock goes in during simmering.
Ingredients: 6 pcs ancho chillies · 5 pcs mulato chillies · 4 pcs pasilla chillies · 1200 ml chicken stock
Toast each addition separately
Toast on a dry griddle separately: almonds, peanuts, sesame, spices, tortilla and bread. Each has a different time — thrown in together, some burn while others stay raw. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the toasted sesame for garnish. The most laborious stage, and there is no shortcut.
Ingredients: 60 g almonds · 50 g peanuts · 60 g sesame seeds · 80 g raisins · 60 g prunes · 1 pcs corn tortilla · 1 pcs bread
Each addition alone — they toast at different rates.Fry the vegetables and dried fruit
Chop the onions and tomatoes, peel the garlic and fry them in a spoonful of lard for 10 minutes, then add the raisins and prunes and cook 3 minutes more, until they plump. The dried fruit provides the sweetness — only a spoonful of sugar goes in at the end.
Ingredients: 60 g almonds · 50 g peanuts · 60 g sesame seeds · 80 g raisins · 60 g prunes · 1 pcs corn tortilla · 1 pcs bread
Blend everything perfectly smooth
Blend the chillies with their soaking stock, the vegetables, dried fruit, nuts and spices in batches, to an absolutely smooth purée, then push it through a sieve. The sieve is obligatory — chilli skins stay behind, and without it the sauce is gritty.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 8 cloves garlic · 3 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cloves · 4 pcs allspice berries · ½ tsp anise · 1 tsp peppercorns · 100 g lard · 60 g dark chocolate · 2 tsp salt · 1 tbsp sugar
Fry the paste in hot lard
Heat the remaining lard in a deep pot and pour in the purée all at once — it will spit hard. Fry 15 minutes, stirring, until it darkens and thickens. This step makes the mole; unfried, the paste tastes raw and the flavours stay separate.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 8 cloves garlic · 3 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cloves · 4 pcs allspice berries · ½ tsp anise · 1 tsp peppercorns · 100 g lard · 60 g dark chocolate · 2 tsp salt · 1 tbsp sugar
It spits hard — cover up and use a long spoon.Thin with stock and simmer 90 minutes
Add the remaining stock (about 700 ml) until the sauce is as thick as cream and cook 90 minutes on the lowest heat, stirring every quarter of an hour. It darkens and turns silky — long cooking merges a couple of dozen ingredients into one flavour.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 8 cloves garlic · 3 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cloves · 4 pcs allspice berries · ½ tsp anise · 1 tsp peppercorns · 100 g lard · 60 g dark chocolate · 2 tsp salt · 1 tbsp sugar
Add the chocolate and balance
Stir in the chocolate, salt and sugar. Taste: mole should be bitter, sweet, hot and smoky at once, with none of them dominating. Serve with chicken or turkey and rice, scattered with the reserved sesame.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 8 cloves garlic · 3 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cloves · 4 pcs allspice berries · ½ tsp anise · 1 tsp peppercorns · 100 g lard · 60 g dark chocolate · 2 tsp salt · 1 tbsp sugar
Before you start
Made in quantity, made ahead
Mole is half a day's work, so in Mexico it is usually made in quantity. It freezes very well — three months in portions — and keeps 4–5 days in the fridge. It tastes even better the next day.
Where to find the chillies
Ancho, mulato and pasilla are sold at Mexican grocers and online. If you can only find ancho, use them throughout — the sauce will be sweeter and lighter, but still good. Do not substitute sweet paprika.
Beyond chicken
Classically mole poblano is served with turkey, and also with tamales and as enmoladas — filled, rolled tortillas covered in the sauce. In this kitchen mole is a base as much as a dish in its own right.