Mexicos National Dish Turkey With Chocolate Chile Sauce Mole Poblano Food

TURKEY MOLE POBLANO

Steps:

• Heat about 3 cups water in a microwave-safe bowl for 3 minutes.
• Heat a griddle or comal over medium heat. Toast pasilla chiles, guajillo chiles, ancho chiles, cascabel chile, and morita chile for about 1 minute. Turn chiles over and toast until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove stems and seeds. Place chiles in the bowl of water; cover and let soak, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Place tomatoes on the hot griddle. Cook until blackened on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender.
• Heat 1/4 cup oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Transfer onion and garlic to the blender using tongs, tilting the skillet to reserve the oil.
• Toast cloves, sesame seeds, and coriander seeds in the hot skillet until fragrant and lightly browned, 30 to 60 seconds. Place in the blender. Cook cranberries in the skillet until toasted, about 1 minute; place in the blender.
• Pour an additional 1/4 cup oil in the skillet; reheat over medium heat. Stir in peanuts and almonds; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add to the blender, reserving oil in the skillet.
• Place tortillas in the hot skillet; increase heat to medium-high. Fry until slightly crisped, about 1 minute; place on a plate. Add the remaining oil and chocolate tablet to the skillet; cook and stir until melted, about 2 minutes. Pour into the blender.
• Place softened chiles and 1/3 of the soaking liquid into the blender. Add salt, white pepper, cumin, and oregano. Blend until smooth. Tear tortillas and add to blender; blend mole until smooth.
• Pour mixture into a large pot over low heat. Stir in broth slowly and add cinnamon stick. Simmer until slightly thickened and flavors meld, about 1 hour. Remove cinnamon stick. Pour mole over reheated turkey.

TURKEY MOLE POBLANO

Steps:

• For the mole: Tear the ancho, Anaheim, and chipotle chiles into large pieces and toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat until they change color a bit, about 2 minutes. Put them into a bowl with the raisins and cover them with hot water. Soak until softened, about 30 minutes. In the same skillet over medium heat, add the almonds, sesame seeds, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, oregano, and thyme. Toast for 2 minutes, grind in a spice grinder, and add the powder to a blender. In the same skillet, over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, onions, garlic, and serrano. Cook until lightly browned, then add the tomatoes. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes, then add to the blender. Add the chocolate and the soaked chiles and raisins to the blender along with some of the chile soaking liquid. Puree, adding more soaking liquid, as needed, to make a smooth sauce. (This makes about 4 cups sauce, the recipe uses 2 cups, the extra can be frozen).
• Pour the lemon juice over the turkey in a large bowl and season it well with salt and pepper. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet and brown the turkey on all sides Transfer the browned turkey to a plate, leaving the oil in the pan. Pour 2 cups of the mole sauce into the hot skillet and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and return the turkey pieces to the pan. Simmer, covered, until the turkey is cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, put the onion and radish slices into a serving bowl. Add the lime juice and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt, to taste. Mix well and sprinkle with the cheese.
• Serve the turkey over cooked white rice and the onion and radish salad. Garnish everything with cilantro leaves.
• Perfect White Rice...
• 2:1 ratio of water to rice... for perfect rice every time.

MOLE POBLANO

Steps:

• For the Lomo Saltado:
• Melt a little lard in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the halved onions and the 8 garlic cloves and cook until lightly browned. Remove from the pan and discard the onion. Reserve the garlic. In the infused lard, fry the roasted onions, roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes and tomatillos. Reserve.
• In another large skillet, add the sesame seeds, almonds, peanuts, raisins, prunes, plantains, coriander seeds, star anise and cinnamon, and toast until aromatic. Set aside.
• In a blender add the reserved garlic, the onion mixture, the nut mixture, croissants, tortilla pieces and the 1 1/2 quarts of chicken stock. Puree until a smooth mole forms. Transfer mole mixture to a large stock pot.
• Seed and devein the mulattos, anchos, pasillas and chipotles. Coat a large fry pan with lard. Add the chiles and saute until soft. Add the chiles to a blender and puree, then strain into the pot with the mole. Put the pot over low heat and add the chocolate and the sugar, stirring constantly. Stir in the remaining chicken stock, a little at a time, until the desired thickness of the mole is reached.

PUEBLA-STYLE FIESTA TURKEY IN MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• For turkey:
• Combine all ingredients in large pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until turkey is just cooked through, skimming foam, about 35 minutes. Transfer turkey to bowl; cover and chill. Strain and reserve broth in pot.
• For chiles:
• Heat 1/2 cup lard in large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, fry all chiles until beginning to blister and change color, about 15 seconds per side (do not burn). Using tongs and shaking off excess lard, transfer chiles to another large pot. Add 4 cups reserved turkey broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered until chiles are very soft, about 35 minutes. Strain liquid into 4-cup measuring cup; add enough reserved turkey broth to measure 4 cups. Chop chiles. Working in batches, puree chiles and 4 cups chile broth in blender until smooth.
• Heat remaining 1/2 cup lard in same pot over medium heat until almost smoking. Press chile puree through large mesh strainer into pot (mixture will sputter and bubble vigorously). Stir until puree thickens enough to form path on bottom of pot when wooden spoon is drawn across, about 15 minutes. Remove chile puree from heat.
• For nuts and seeds:
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add almonds and stir until color deepens, about 1 minute. Add pecans and peanuts; stir 1 minute. Add pepitas; stir 30 seconds. Transfer to blender. Add sesame seeds to skillet; stir 1 minute. Transfer 2 tablespoons sesame seeds to small bowl and reserve for garnish. Place remaining 1 tablespoon sesame seeds in blender with nuts. Add 1/2 cup reserved turkey broth and blend until thick puree forms. Add nut-and-seed puree to pot with chile puree. Cook over very low heat, stirring often, while preparing fruits.
• For fruits:
• Heat 1/4 cup oil in same skillet over high heat. Add plantain and sauté until golden, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels. Add tomatillos and tomatoes to skillet; sauté until slightly softened, mashing with fork. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until thickened, stirring often, about 25 minutes. Add raisins and plantain; simmer 10 minutes, stirring often. Cool slightly.
• Working in batches, puree tomatillo mixture in blender with 2 cups reserved turkey broth. Strain mixture through sieve into chile-nut puree, pressing on solids to extract as much mixture as possible; discard solids in sieve. Continue cooking puree over very low heat while preparing flavorings, stirring often.
• For flavorings:
• Cook onion and garlic cloves in dry heavy medium skillet over medium heat until beginning to brown and soften, turning often, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly. Coarsely chop onion; peel garlic. Place in blender.
• Stir cloves in same skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Transfer cloves to spice mill or coffee grinder; add peppercorns and next 7 ingredients. Grind finely. Add to blender. Add 1 cup reserved turkey broth; blend until smooth. Stir spice mixture into chile-nut puree. Simmer mole over very low heat 30 minutes to blend flavors while preparing thickeners, stirring often (mole will bubble thickly).
• For thickeners:
• Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add bread slice; fry until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to blender. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and tortillas to skillet; sauté 2 minutes. Transfer to blender with bread. Add 2 cups reserved turkey broth; blend until smooth. Add to mole; simmer 10 minutes.
• Add chocolate and piloncillo to mole; simmer over low heat 20 minutes, stirring often, scraping bottom of pot and adding more turkey broth (or chicken broth if necessary) by 1/2 cupfuls if mole is too thick (up to 2 cups more broth may be needed). Season with salt. Continue simmering over low heat until streaks of oil form on mole surface, about 10 minutes longer. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cool slightly. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated. Rewarm over low heat, stirring and adding more broth if desired, before continuing.)
• Cut turkey into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Add to hot mole; simmer until turkey is heated through, about 10 minutes. Arrange turkey slices on platter. Spoon mole over; sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• *Mexican cinnamon sticks with a delicate, floral flavor.
• **Mexican raw sugar shaped into hard cones. Smaller chunks are sometimes labeled panocha. If neither is available, substitute an equal weight of packed dark brown sugar.