Traditional Mole

Howdy, folks! Thanks for stopping by the website. Mole - the sauce, not the animal - is a traditional sauce that has been made in Mexico for as long as history can remember. While there's no accent over the e, it's pronounced Mole-ay.

I'm making this sauce the traditional way - mostly - so grab you a whole chicken and some dried chiles and lets get going.

Pollo Con Mole

Mole can be served atop any meat, but in my experience, mole is best served over chicken. I prefer to buy a whole chicken, slice it apart, and set it to boil while I make the mole sauce. If you're not sure how to butcher a chicken, just head over to my fried chicken video and it'll explain it in detail.

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Once the chicken is cut into pieces, set boil the meat in a large saucepan with a little salt and some bay leaves. You want to boil the chicken until it's fork tender.

Rehydrate the Chiles

This sauce brings a mighty flavor. I recently filmed a video to share my favorite dried chiles, and all of these are there. Take a medium sized saucepan, and bring the water to a boil. Toast or roast the Ancho, Cascabel, Guajillo, and Chile d'Arbol until they become aromatic. Add them to the boiling saucepan for about 5 or 6 minutes. Once the chiles are rehydrated, place them in your blender. Save the chile broth - don't go throwing that flavor away. It'll come in handy soon.

Tip: Roasting chiles and spices really brings out their flavor.

Don't quit the roasting there. Roast a couple Roma tomatoes and some garlic cloves. Place them in the blender with the rehydrated chiles, mash up a little bit, and blend. If the blender needs loosened up a little, add some of the chile broth.

Blend well and pour the contents into a large stock pot. Don't go and put that blender away just yet.

Grab a Cast Iron Skillet and some Lard

I said this was going to be traditional and it is. Heat the skillet up and add lard. Slice up a white onion and cook until tender and golden. Add to the blender.

Add some more lard, and then add almonds, peanuts, and pumpkin seeds. Toast until golden and set aside. Add more lard if you need to, and add pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, anise seed, and cloves. Toast, add to the almonds and peanuts, and pour into a food processer. Grind until all of these nuts and seeds come to a fine powder. Add to the blender.

Cinnamon and Raisins

Americans are used to cinnamon and raisins as a sweet treat, but all over the world folks use these spices in savor sauces like the one we're whipping up today. Cook the raisins and cinnamon sticks in the lard until all of the raisins have popped back up to their original shape. Add the raisins and whole roasted cinnamon sticks to the blender.

Add a little more of the reserved chile broth and blend until smooth. Add to saucepan and mix well.

Over medium heat, add a half a stick of butter and 2 con de pollo bouillon cubes.

Mexican Chocolate

It isn't easy to find Mexican chocolate in Oklahoma so we're using Dark Chocolate. Add the dark chocolate to the saucepan and stir constantly to avoid scorching.

At this point, take a taste and see if the sauce needs anything. My sauce needed some salt so I added some of my Mesquite Seasoning. Add the cooked chicken to the pot and simmer for about 20 minutes to incorporate all of these delicious flavors.

Serve the chicken with extra sauce poured over. Top with sesame seeds. Enjoy!

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Mole - Cowboy Kent Rollins

Servings 6

Prep Time 25 Minutes

Total Time 1 Hour 40 Minutes

Author Cowboy Kent Rollins

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
cut apart
½ teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
4 dried ancho chilies
stemmed and seeded
6 dried cascabel chilies
stemmed and seeded
6 dried guajillo chilies
stemmed and seeded
1 dried chile de arbol
stemmed and seeded
2 Roma tomatoes
roasted
4 garlic cloves
roasted
7 tablespoons lard
divided
1 white onion
sliced
1 cup almonds
½ cup peanuts
½ cup pumpkin seeds
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 teaspoons ground coriander
6 whole cloves
2 teaspoons anise seeds
¾ cup raisins
1 cinnamon stick
3 cups water
2 con de pollo bouillon cubes
4 tablespoons butter
4 ounces dark chocolate

Instructions

Add the chicken to a large pot and cover with water over medium heat. Add the salt and bay leaf. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until tender.
Meanwhile, place the chilies in a large cast iron skillet and toast about 2 minutes per side over low heat. Remove and place in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 4 minutes, or until the chilies are tender. Strain and place in a blender. Reserve the broth.
To the blender add the tomato and garlic. Add ½ cup of the reserved broth and blend until smooth. Pour the contents into a large pot.
Return to the skillet and melt 1 tablespoon of lard. Stir in the onions and cook over medium-low heat, about 5 minutes, or until the onions brown. Remove from the skillet and place in the blender.
Return to the skillet and melt 2 tablespoons of lard. Add the almonds and peanuts and toast for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and place in a bowl.
Melt 1 tablespoon of lard and add the pumpkin seeds. Toast for about 2 minutes and place in the bowl with the peanuts and almonds.
Dry the skillet and add the sesame seeds. Toast until lightly golden and place in the bowl with the nuts. Add the coriander, cloves and anise seeds. Grind all the ingredients or place in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the contents to the blender.
Return to the skillet and melt 2 tablespoons of lard. Add the raisins and cinnamon stick. Fry until the raisins plump up, about 2 minutes. Add the contents to the blender.
Add ½ cup of the reserved broth to the blender and blend until smooth. Pour the contents into the pot with the chili mixture.
Pour half of the contents of the pot back into the blender and blend again. Pour the contents into a bowl. Repeat. Pour the contents back into the large pot and place over medium heat.
Stir in 2 cups of water, con de pollo, butter and dark chocolate. Bring to a light boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. More water can be added to thin it down, if needed.
Place the chicken pieces in the mole and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the sauce and plate. Pour over additional sauce and serve immediately.