Mole Negro With Chicken And Pork Food

MOLE NEGRO WITH CHICKEN AND PORK

Steps:

• Heat a large dry skillet over low heat; cook the sesame seeds until they are fragrant, about 3 minutes; transfer to a small bowl, cover and set aside.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat; add the chicken. Cook, turning chicken occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side; transfer to a platter.
• Add pork ribs to the skillet; cook, turning, until ribs are browned, about 3 minutes each side, and transfer to the platter.
• Add 3 tablespoons of the oil to the skillet. Add plantains; cook, turning often, until golden, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl; set aside.
• Repeat process, separately cooking the peanuts, almonds, raisins and brown sugar, adding a bit more oil as needed.
• Stir mixture together.
• Puree half of the mixture in a blender with 1/2 cup of the broth.
• Pour through a strainer; reserve liquid. Repeat with the remaining half of the mixture in a blender and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth.
• Pour through a strainer; reserve liquid and set aside.
• Process tortilla, cinnamon stick, cookies, roll, chocolate and pine nuts together in the clean blender until crumbly; set aside.
• Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat; add the ancho chilies.
• Cook, stirring, until very fragrant, about 2 minutes; transfer to a medium bowl.
• Repeat with mulatto and pasilla chilies. Pour boiling water over cooked chilies to cover; set aside 30 minutes.
• After they have soaked. puree in a blender and then pour through a strainer into a Dutch oven; discard solids.
• Add remaining 2 cups of chicken broth to the Dutch oven.
• Heat mixture to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to a simmer.
• Add the chicken, pork, plaintain-nut mixture, and tortilla mixture to the Dutch oven; cook until pork is tender, about 2 hours.
• Set aside to cool, about 20 minutes.
• Remove meat; shred meat with a fork.
• Stir shredded meat into the sauce; pour into a serving bowl or platter.
• Decorate with reserved sesame seeds.

MOLE NEGRO OAXAQUENO: OAXACAN BLACK MOLE

Steps:

• In a 2 gallon stockpot, heat 5 quarts water and onions, celery, and carrots to a boil. Add chicken pieces and poach, covered, over low heat for about 35 to 45 minutes, until cooked through and juices run clear when pierced with a fork. Remove the meat from the stock. Strain and reserve the stock.
• Heat 2 quarts of water in a kettle. On a 10-inch dry comal, griddle, or in a cast-iron frying pan, toast the chiles over medium heat until blackened, but not burnt, about 10 minutes. Place the chiles in a large bowl, cover with hot water, and soak for 1/2 hour. Remove the chiles from the soaking water with tongs, placing small batches in a blender with 1/4 cup of the chile soaking water to blend smooth. Put the chile puree through a strainer to remove the skins.
• In the same dry comal, griddle, or frying pan, grill the onion and garlic over medium heat for 10 minutes. Set aside. Toast the almonds, peanuts, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, and cloves in a dry comal, griddle or cast-iron frying pan for about 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan.
• Over the same heat, toast the chile seeds, taking care to blacken but not burn them, about 20 minutes. Try to do this outside or in a well-ventilated place because the seeds will give off very strong fumes. When the seeds are completely black, light them with a match and let them burn themselves out. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl. Soak the blackened seeds in 1 cup of cold water for 10 minutes. Drain the seeds and grind them in a blender for about 2 minutes. Add the blended chile seeds to the blended chile mixture.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in an 8-inch cast-iron frying pan over medium heat until smoking. Add the raisins and fry them until they are plump, approximately 1 minute. Remove from the pan. Fry the bread slice in the same oil until browned, about 5 minutes, over medium heat. Remove from pan. Fry the plantain in the same oil until it is well browned, approximately 10 minutes, over medium heat. Set aside. Fry the sesame seeds, stirring constantly over low heat, adding more oil if needed. When the sesame seeds start to brown, about 5 minutes, add the pecans and brown for 2 minutes more. Remove all from the pan, let cool, and grind finely in a spice grinder. It takes a bit of time, but this is the only way to grind the seeds and nuts finely enough.
• Wipe out the frying pan and fry the tomatoes, tomatillos, thyme, and oregano over medium to high heat, allowing the juices to almost evaporate, about 15 minutes. Blend well, using 1/2 cup of reserved stock if needed to blend and set aside. Place the nuts, bread, plantains, raisins, onion, garlic and spices in the blender in small batches, and blend well, adding about 1 cup of stock to make it smooth.
• In a heavy 4-quart stockpot, heat 2 tablespoons of lard or oil until smoking and fry the chile paste over medium to low heat, stirring constantly so it will not burn, approximately 20 minutes. When it is dry, add the tomato puree and fry until the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add the ground ingredients, including the sesame seed paste, to the pot. Stir constantly with a wooden soon until well-incorporated, about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken stock to the mole, stir well, and allow to cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Break up the chocolate and add to the pot, stirring until it is melted and incorporated into the mixture.
• Toast the avocado leaf briefly over the flame if you have a gas range or in a dry frying pan and then add it to the pot. Slowly add more stock to the mole, as it will keep thickening as it cooks. Add enough salt to bring out the flavor. Let simmer another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so it does not stick, adding stock as needed. The mole should not be thick; just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Place the cooked chicken pieces in the leftover stock in a saucepan and heat through.
• To serve, place a piece of chicken in a shallow bowl and ladle 3/4 of a cup of mole sauce over to cover it completely. Serve immediately with lots of hot corn tortillas.
• You can use oil instead of lard to fry the mole, but the flavor will change dramatically. In our pueblo, people traditionally use turkey instead of chicken, and sometimes add pieces of pork and beef to enhance the flavor. You can use leftover mole and chicken meat to make Enmoladas or Tamales Oazaquenos made with banana leaves.
• Inspired by Maria Taboada and Paula Martinez

SLOW-COOKER MOLE PORK

Steps:

• Tear the tortillas into small pieces; toss with the chiles, sesame seeds, raisins, onion, garlic and five-spice powder in a bowl. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tortilla mixture; cook, stirring, until the sesame seeds are toasted and the onion is slightly charred, about 5 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits, until the liquid evaporates and the tomatoes start browning, about 6 minutes. Add the cilantro and 1 1/2 cups water; bring to a boil, scraping up the skillet. Working in batches, transfer to a blender and puree until smooth, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a 6-quart slow cooker.
• Season the pork all over with salt and pepper; add to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low, 8 hours.
• Before serving, pierce the sweet potatoes several times with a fork: microwave until tender, about 8 minutes. Remove the pork from the slow cooker and slice. Top with the sauce and more sesame seeds and cilantro. Serve with the sweet potatoes and tortillas.

GRILLED CHICKEN MOLE

Steps:

• For the brine and chicken: In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup water, the salt, sugar, garlic and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar and salt. Once boiling, remove from the heat and add 3 cups ice. Once the liquid is cool, pour into a freezer bag. Add the chicken to the brine, making sure it is completely submerged. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• For the dry rub: Combine the ancho chile powder, granulated garlic, salt, cumin, onion powder, cinnamon and black pepper together and toast in a dry pan until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry. Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with the dry rub, massaging the spices into the meat and ensuring that all sides are completely coated. Return to the refrigerator and marinate for 1 hour.
• For the mole sauce: In a medium saute pan over medium heat, add the canola oil and onions and cook until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the tomatoes, chocolate, almonds, cinnamon, cumin, ancho chiles and chipotles with their liquid and simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a food processor, add in the chicken stock and puree until smooth. Add the currants and process again. Set half of the sauce aside for serving and reserve the other half for basting the chicken.
• Preheat a grill to medium-high heat. Grill the chicken, turning occasionally, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F, 10 to 15 minutes per side. Using a silicone pastry brush, baste with the mole sauce for the final 5 to 8 minutes of cooking time.
• Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges. Serve with steamed white rice and extra mole sauce slathered over the top.

PORK AND BLACK BEAN CHILI MOLE

Steps:

• Spray a 4 quart saucepan with nonstick spray coating. Place onion, garlic, jalapeno and pork in pan and cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and meat is lightly browned. Add tomato paste, chicken broth, chili powder and cumin. Cover, heat to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in chocolate, beans and cilantro and simmer 10 minutes.

BLACK MOLE FROM OAXACA (MOLE NEGRO DE OAXACA)

Steps:

• 1. First the day before making your mole you will need to make a rich chicken stock. Cook two chickens cut into pieces, in a deep heavy pot cover pieces with cold water add a medium onion, some garlic cloves a little salt and some garlic powder cover on medium flame and cook for about 1 1/2 hours. Ensure you have at least 12 cups of good rich broth. When chicken is done take out pieces and put into a seperate pan let cool & cover and refrigerate for the next day. Do not over cook the chicken you want tender nice pieces, not chicken falling off the bone. When broth cools strain and refrigerate. All of the ingredients for the this broth are in addition to what is on the sauce ingredient list above. Next day skim of the fat from the top and put on back burner until ready to use.
• 2. Clean the dried chilies with a damp cloth. Open the chiles by making a slit and removing the stem, seeds and membranes. Be sure to get all of the seeds out. They will cause you sauce to be bitter. After cleaning all of the dried chilies put into a sauce pan cover with cold water and put on medim flame let the chilies begin to boil for 5 minutes. Then shut off heat and let steep in this water for 10 more minutes. Make sure you have the extractor or ventilator on over the stove when doing this. Chile fumes can be strong. After the chilies have soaked for 10 minutes remove to a blender and with a little of the soaking water blend down to a puree. (Do not throw the remaining soaking water away Save it you will need it later). Take out chile puree and set aside in a seperate bowl.
• 3. On a cookie sheet place your onion cut in half cut side down, tomatillos cut side down, the tomato leave whole but turn once or twice while roasting. Four peeled garlic cloves all to roast under the broiler. Do not let veggies char only to roast until somwhat brown, keep checking to make sure your veggies do not burn. Turn tomato just to get some nice browning spots. This should take about 4/5 minutes under the broiler. Some people do on a griddle but it's faster under the broiler. Remove veggies and puree everything in the blender. everything must be completly pureed. Set aside in a seperate dish.
• 4. In a cast iron pan if available or a heavy large fry pan heat 1 tablespoon lard or oil and fry raisins until they puf up and brown a bit again I can't begin to remind do not scorch or burn the raisins. Remove the raisins and set aside. Add a little more lard or oil and fry gently the almonds, pecans, and the peanuts frying for five minutes on a medium to low flame careful not to burn. All this takes times you cannot hurry because burning or scorching any of these nuts will cause your sauce to be bitter. Nuts should be a golden brown. Remove nuts and set aside. Next in the same frying pan add a little more lard or oil and fry your torn bread pieces lightly then put bread in the oven for about ten minutes to toast a bit. After 10 minutes remove bread from oven. Next in that same frying pan cut your ripe plantains in small pieces and fry in oil or lard until golden. Remove the plantains to a seperate pan. Last fry the tortilla in a little bit more oil or lard until crispy again being careful not to burn. Remove fried tortilla to bread pan. Heat another heavy fry pan no oil or lard please. Keep heat down on medium low Add your spices to toast sesame seeds, cinnamon sticks anise, cloves, cumin seeds, black peppercorns and pumpkin seeds slowly. Toast until they are a fragarant do not burn or scorch. Put into a spice grinder or coffee grinder and pulse until totaly ground to a powder. Note if you do not have whole cumin seeds then add ground cumin powder to your mixture at the end after you have pulsed your spices. Next add your powdered spices to the just ground spices refering to the oregano, tyme and marjoram.
• 5. At this time start to heat your chicken broth. When hot reduce to a simmer you don't want it to boil. Place the ground spices, the pureed veggies, the fried plantains, and a cup of chicken broth and blend into a smooth paste. Place in a bowl and set aside. Next place the bread, tortilla, and a little more broth and blend into a puree. Add some of the pureed chiles and continue to blend everything in little batches until all the bread, tortilla mixture is pureed and mixed with the chile puree Everything should be very well incorporated. Next put the nuts, remaining 2 cloves garlic,raisins and chocolate in the blender add a little of the water (about 1/2 cup) from the soaked chiles and blend to a smooth paste. By this time all of your ingredients should be well blended in a smooth paste or pureed except for the flour and sugar. Mix all of your pureed ingredients together. The bread and chilis, the veggies, the spices the nuts and chocolate mixture. Everything mix real real good. Taste for salt saesoning. (I have left out the avacado leaves because this is very hard for some to find. If you are close to a location that has fresh avacado leaves wash four and put aside for one of the final steps.
• 6. In a deep heavy pot heat some more lard or oil, add the flour and begin to make a roux. Roux should be sautied to a golden brown then add about 2 cups of all your pureed mixture. With a large wisk begin to mix roux with the puree mixture. Your mixture will begin to get thick and be hard to stir. Start adding 2 or three cupfulls of hot chicken broth and wisking constantly until you have a nice consistency then add all of the remaing pureed mixture and about 8/10 cupfuls of the chicken broth. Keep stirring with the wisk until you have a smooth sauce. Taste to see if it has enough salt. If it is a little bitter add the sugar a little at a time. Each time tasting to see if the bitternes is gone. Your sauce should be savory, and spicy not sweet. If you have the avacado leaves now you add them to the sauce whole not cut with your cooked chicken pieces from which you made your broth. Simmer mole sauce and chicken on low flame for about 45 minutes. If sauce is too thick add more chicken broth. Remove avacado leaves and discard. Serve Mole and chicken with Mexican rice and warm tortillas. Sprinkle a few toasted sesame seeds over the mole when serving. I have the recipe posted for Mexican rice. I will be making this mole this weekend and will post the picture of the finished dish. This is not an easy dish. Mole Negro is a labor intensive and the most arduous of all the mole recipes. It is done in steps and takes patience. The reward is a melt in your mouth sauce and chicken that few have a chance to experience here in the U.S. Note: Do not use any other chocolate except the Mexican chocolate your mole will loose it's character & notoriety it is famous for. Mexican chocolate can be found in the Latin food section of your supermarket. Enjoy