Mole Verde Mexican Green Sauce Food

MOLE VERDE

Steps:

• Place the meat and bay leaf in a large casserole, and add just enough water to barely cover it. Turn heat to medium and cook for about 30 minutes with the lid on. The water will start to reduce, and the meat will start browning on its rendered fat. The slow cooking process will produce a tender meat. If after this period of time your meat still looks though, keep cooking and add a little bit more water as needed.
• While the meat is cooking, place tomatillos in a saucepan*, cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it starts boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer until tomatillos are pale green and soft, about 6-8 minute.o
• Place the cooked and drained tomatillos in a blender with the pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, Serrano peppers, garlic, onion, romaine lettuce leaves, Hoja Santa leaves, cilantro leaves, spices, and 1 cup of water or chicken broth. Process until you have a very smooth sauce. Depending on your blender, you may need to work in batches.
• By this time, the meat should be starting to brown in the casserole. Pour the sauce over the meat and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to avoid the sauce from sticking to the bottom. Once the sauce starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently to allow all the flavors to be absorbed. Add the cubed vegetables and more water as needed.
• Keep slowly simmering until the vegetables are cooked, about 8 minutes. Serve warm with a nice portion of rice and corn tortillas to scoop up the mole sauce from the plate.

MOLE VERDE: GREEN MOLE

Steps:

• Toast the pumpkin seeds in an ungreased pan, turning them over and shaking the pan from time to time to prevent them from burning. Set them aside to cool and then grind them in an electric grinder to a fine powder. Put 1 1/2 cups of the broth in a blender, gradually adding the tomates verdes, lengua de vaca, hoja santa, chopped epazote, and chiles, blending as smooth as possible.
• Heat the lard in a flameproof casserole in which you are going to serve the mole and fry the blended ingredients, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking; cook for about 25 minutes. Add the rest of the epazote.
• Stir 1/2 cup of the broth into the pumpkin seeds until you have a smooth consistency and gradually stir into the cooked ingredients. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly for 10 more minutes. Take care that the pumpkin seed mixture does not form into lumps; if this happens, put the sauce back into the blender and blend until smooth. Add any remaining broth and salt, to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water to dilute.

GREEN MOLE

Steps:

• Put the chicken pieces, onion, and garlic into a large saucepan; add water or chicken broth to cover and add salt. Add the optional giblets if you are making this with water. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat until the meat is almost tender but still firm, about 25 minutes. (A lot will depend on the quality of the chicken.) If using pork, cook for about 20 minutes longer. Strain, reserving the broth. Reduce or add water to make up to 6 cups (1.5L).
• Put the sesame seeds into an ungreased skillet over medium heat, stirring them constantly until they become a deep golden color, about 5 minutes. Take care not to let them burn. Spread them out on a tray to cool. Put the pumpkin seeds into the pan and stir them until they begin to swell and start to pop around, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. When the seeds are cool, grind the sesame first with the cloves, peppercorns, and allspice to a slightly textured powder. Then grind the pumpkin seeds to the same texture. Transfer both to a bowl and stir in 1 cup (250ml) of the reserved broth to make a thick paste.
• Heat about 3 tablespoons of the lard or oil in a heavy casserole, add the seed paste, and fry over medium-low heat, scraping the bottom of the pan constantly to avoid sticking - if necessary add a little more fat - until dry, shiny, and a rich deep golden color.
• Unless you have a large blender jar you may need to blend the greens in two batches, but try to use the minimum of liquid. Put 1 cup (250ml) of the broth into the blender jar and add the garlic, tomate verde, and chiles and blend fairly smooth. Gradually add half of the greens and blend as smoothly as possible. Add the rest of the greens little by little, with just enough of the broth to enable the blades of the blender to work efficiently.
• Gradually stir the blended ingredients into the fried seed paste over medium heat, stirring the mixture well after each addition. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce starts to reduce and thicken, for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining broth and cook for a further 10 minutes - pools of oil will form around the periphery. Add the meat, adjust salt, and cook for a further 10 minutes. Dilute with more broth or water if desired. Serve with corn tortillas.

MOLE VERDE

Steps:

• Add the tomatillos, poblano, onion, serrano chiles and garlic to a large preheated comal or cast-iron skillet set over medium heat. Cook everything until lightly charred and soft on all sides, about 20 minutes. The poblano should take the longest to cook, while the garlic cloves will be done in about 5 to 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat a dry small to medium skillet over medium. Once warmed, toast the sesame seeds, stirring constantly, until golden and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the toasted seeds to a large bowl and set aside.
• Toast the pepitas in the same skillet, stirring constantly, until golden, popped and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Add them to the bowl with sesame seeds.
• Toast the almonds in the same skillet, stirring constantly, until lightly seared and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Add them to the bowl with the seeds.
• Toast the bay leaves and cloves until the leaves lightly brown and the cloves become fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add to the same bowl with the seeds.
• Stem and seed the charred chiles, and add them along with the remaining charred ingredients and the toasted ingredients to a blender. Add the romaine, cilantro, epazote, hoja santa (if using) and 2 ½ cups vegetable stock. Blend until almost smooth yet slightly lumpy and textured. Use more of the vegetable stock as needed to smooth out the mixture. If you don't have a high-powered blender, you may need to blend in two batches, adding equal amounts of the wet and dry ingredients to each batch.
• Heat a large, deep pot over medium-low. Once warmed, add the oil. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, carefully add the mole from the blender. There will be some splatter. Stir in the salt and simmer the mole for 15 to 20 minutes, until the flavors meld together, stirring occasionally to make sure the mole doesn't burn at the bottom of the pot.
• Serve with seared mushrooms, tofu steaks or roasted cauliflower, paired with Mexican rice. Extra mole can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week or frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container.

MEXICAN MOLE SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until tender. Mix in cocoa powder, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. Stir in the tomato soup and green chile peppers. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Transfer to a gravy boat or pour directly over food to serve.

MOLE VERDE -- MEXICAN GREEN SAUCE

Steps:

• Toast the pumpkin seeds in an ungreased pan, turning them over and shaking the pan from time to time to prevent them from burning.
• Set them aside to cool.
• Grind them in an electric grinder or blender to a fine powder.
• Put 1 1/2 cups of the broth in a blender, gradually adding the tomatillos, sorrel, hoja santa, chopped epazote, and chiles, blending as smooth as possible.
• Heat the lard in a flameproof casserole in which you are going to serve the mole; fry the blended ingredients, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking for about 25 minutes.
• Add the rest of the epazote.
• Stir 1/2 cup of the broth into the pumpkin seeds until you have a smooth consistency and gradually stir into the cooked ingredients.
• Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly for 10 more minutes.
• Take care that the pumpkin seed mixture does not form into lumps; if this happens, put the sauce back into the blender and blend until smooth.
• Add any remaining broth and salt, to taste.
• If the sauce is too thick, add a little water to dilute.