Ingredients:
- An assortment of chili peppers. Not too hot, not all the same kind. Preferably more thick-skinned than thin. This last time, I used: 1/2 small red bell pepper, 1 poblano, 2 anaheim chilis. You can very easily add heat here by increasing the spiciness of the chilis (adding spicer ones...next step up, I think, is a jalepeno).
- An assortment of dried fruits. Last night, I used a half-dozen prunes, a half-dozen dried apricots, and a handful of raisins
- An assortment of nuts. This time, I used a half-handful each of: Cashews, Almonds, sunflower seeds, and pine nuts.
- An onion
- 1 Large Can of crushed tomatos (doesn't have to be crushed...whole would work...crushed was faster)
- A bunch of chopped garlic (I used something like 5 tablespoons...probably a dozen cloves).
- Cocoa powder (half-a-handfull last night...4 Tbsp?)
- Oil (I used olive) -- probably 1/2 cup
- Other spices, as you like -- This time, I skipped the cumin, added several TBSP of Paprika and Cinnamon
- Honey -- to taste
- Water -- for consistency
Directions:
Start Dicing stuff: Order: Chilis, Onions, Fruits, Nuts...can be done slowly as other things cook.
Throw whatever you've got chopped into a pan with the olive oil, and start saute-ing.
Keep chopping stuff and throwing it in.
Saute chilis for no less than 20...nuts for no less than 10.
Add crushed tomatoes, mix.
Add chocolate and spices. Cook, medium heat for another 10.
Pour (scoop) mixture (now black) into a serious blender
Blend until smooth, paste-like.
Taste--Mole is a very complex flavor (see ingredients), but I find this a bit too bitter, and so add a couple tablespoons of honey, and this time I though the paste was too thick (I thought it wouldn't pour), so i added a 1 Cup of hot water...then blended again.
Serve over
Last night we served over baked chicken.
1. Bake Chicken mostly
2. pour excessive amounts of Mole sauce all over the chicken
3. Put back in oven to finish for 10-15 minutes.
4. Garnish with crumbled queso and an avocado.
My thus-far favorite use for mole sauce was:
1. Cook, shred chicken.
2. Place shedded chicken in enchiladas.
3. Cover with Mole
4. Add Queso (or even Jack) on top.
5. Cook.
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8 comments:
That sounds good. I will have to try that this week.
Got strong positive reviews from everyone at the dinner party it was requested for. Hope you like it.
The olive oil can go bitter when blended. I know for a fact it will happen with unheated olive oil and believe it is also the case with 'cooked' olive oil. (I know this from making home-made Mayo. Olive oil will work, particularly the very light kind, but if you put it in a processor it makes an inedible substance. Must be mixed by hand, and gently. I now use Walnut oil.)
Could be the source of bitterness, that and the cocoa powder. I'd go with a walnut oil, gentle delicate taste, does not go bitter in the blender.
Anon,
Thank you very much. Wonderful information. Next time...walnut.
Hello again Aretae,
I wanted to mention that there are few food stuffs that will combine to give you a bitter taste that do not already taste bitter (phenols hiding in the olive oil, when suspended by blending is one).
Cocoa is a bittering agent, but a good quality one will have an over abundance of 'chocolate' taste. You know this, however. So a light hand with cocoa.
Another area of concern with Mole is that you must be extremely cautious when cooking down fruits/vegetables as the sugars are EASILY scorched in reduction. So extremely low heat is the order - and a careful, very careful hand to insure you don't push the sauce too far.
Most restaurant mole sauces, to me, are inedible. They are cooked too quickly, scorched or loaded up with cheap cocoa and that masks all other flavors, certainly bitter is an element of a Mole, but if a little is good, more is not necessarily better. But I am of the belief that a sauce should compliment the dish on which it is used, not swamp it. Else why not just have it as a soup?
I don't know your skill level as a cook so I do not mean to be insulting, only informational. I am not blowing smoke - you do not know me - when I say your writing is top notch, and I find your thinking provocative. (By way of credentials: I trained as a saucier, and I was fortunate enough to be a private cook for an individual who entertained on a grand scale way too often ;-> Anyway, I stayed current as my employer had a highly refined palate, thus keeping a cook on his staff.)
Anon,
1. Thank you. Not at all insulting. Useful.
To dance around an answer to you:
I am an untrained cook with a "supertaster"-style extreme sensitivity to the 5-tastes, and a nearly un-functional nose. I own, read, and reference some of the cookbooks used as texts in cooking school (LaRousse Gastronomique, etc.). I assert unsupportedly that everyone has senses that are stronger and less strong for them...some folks are highly visual. My strong senses are touch and taste...with the other 3 much weaker. I imagine tastes well.
I am a skilled amateur with a taste-imagination who reads some professional approaches.
I grew up with very simple roux-based white sauces, and when I moved out, more or less built my cooking repertoire out of improvements upon those. Also...I became very fond of thick thai and indian gravies...and pursued a bit that. I spent a summer in belgium, and learned to love good cream sauces.
By 28, I thought that meals were naturally of the form: Sauce over starch, and effectively all my meals were of that form. If I were to train as a chef, I'd train as a saucier.
Now I'm 40, married, and responsible for half our family's cooking, but all our special meals: Tandoori-turkey. Paneer Tikka Masala. This mole (read 20 recipes, skipped the bad ones, extracted the common best elements, constructed it myself...update for next time). Wine-cream-roquefort sauce over steak. Savory Crepes with a Carbonara-ish sauce. Tomorrow for the elder son's 16th birthday, I am instructed to make "southwestern pasta" -- a homegrown aurora sauce with black-beans, ham, cilantro, and ortega chilies. Hope that narrows my skill.
On the other hand, I'm less convinced by your: as a soup instead. Perhaps I'm over-influenced by the Indian/Thai rich gravies and rich French cream sauces, but I think sauces are less overwhelming than the same thing as a soup.
Thank you very much for the insight/instruction. I'm awful fond of learning things, including how to cook better.
And I also find many/most mole's intolerable. I was fortunate to taste one the first time at a mole-expert's restaurant (driving through El Paso)...and I've only found one restaurant since that has done it well (well means better than my amateur version explained in the post).
Again...thank you.
Oh! That's wonderful - sounds like I am preaching to the choir, here!
Whether professional or 'home kitchen' training is irrelevant. Sometimes 'professionally trained' cooks/chefs (not the same animal, by the way) are just hacks that have a retinue of recipes and with exact lists they follow. Some are truly craftsmen. I like to think of myself that way.
I love fooling around with new ideas/tastes and will take it on the chin when they sometimes fail. I also have a pretty good palette, but rely on my nose when cooking. I do have spectacular failures, as I am sure you do too - but the more we cook, testing and experimenting and refining, the better the win to loss ratio. That old practice makes perfect.
Sounds to me like you are way out in the experimental arena and it makes me smile!
Best Wishes and I'll drift back into the background now. Please know I enjoy your posts.
Anon,
Thank you for the visit and the discussion, and especially the advice. I love hearing from folks who know more than I do about a topic. Especially nice ones like yourself.
I'm sure I'd also be a better cook if my nose worked.
I just wish my family wasn't so darned conservative...when I make something they like, they insist they want it the same way all the time...and I want to try something slightly different...even if it is a favorite.
Really, thank you for dropping in and saying something.
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