Oaxacan Mole Negro Cauliflower Enmoladas Food

MEXICAN ENMOLADAS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to "warm." Set your dinner plates in the oven. Start by heating up the mole in a pot over low heat. You want to thin it to the consistency of melted ice cream. If it's too thick, add some broth. Keep it warm for now.
• Shred the meat (I used wild turkey thighs) and set them in an ovenproof bowl. Sprinkle some salt over them and mix in the chopped cilantro, if using. Ladle some mole over the meat and mix well. Set this in the warm oven.
• You need to make your tortillas pliable. There are two ways to do this. You can simply set them on a ragingly hot comal or heavy pan -- 600°F is not too hot -- for a few seconds per side to get them soft, or you can heat the vegetable oil or lard over medium heat and pass the tortillas through the hot oil for just a few seconds. Don't leave them too long or you'll make tostadas. I prefer the oil-free method. Either way, you need to keep your tortillas hot, so put them in foil if you fried them, or in a tortilla warmer or wrapped in towels if you just heated them up.
• OPTIONAL: You can get more mole flavor by dipping the warm tortillas into thinned mole before rolling them. I do this for normal enchiladas, but not for enmoladas. That said, many people do dip their tortillas. To do so, ladle out some more mole from the pot and thin it with broth until it's just a touch thicker than the broth. Dip your tortillas in that quickly, shake off the excess, then fill them.
• Turn the heat up on your mole pot until it's bubbling gently. Get your plates ready and pull the meat from the oven, too. Working quickly, fill three tortillas with the meat mixture and set them, seam side down, on the warm plates. Top with the mole sauce and crumbled cheese and serve. Repeat with the remaining plates and tortillas.

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

OAXACAN BLACK MOLE: MOLE NEGRO

Steps:

• Put the chicken into a saucepan with the garlic, onions, and mint. Add the water to cover and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan, and continue simmering until the chicken is just tender, about 35 minutes. Strain, reserving the broth. Remove the stems from the dried chiles. Slit them open, and remove seeds and veins, reserving the seeds. Toast the chiles for about 50 seconds on each side; if you're using guajillos, toast them longer, until they are almost charred, about 2 minutes.
• Rinse the chiles in cold water, cover with hot water, and leave to soak for about 30 minutes. Put the reserved chile seeds into an ungreased frying pan and toast over fairly high heat, shaking them around from time to time so that they brown evenly. Then raise the heat and char until black. Cover with cold water and set aside to soak for about 5 minutes. Strain and put into a blender jar. Add the broiled tomatoes, unpeeled, to the blender jar along with the water, cloves, allspice, thyme, marjoram, and oregano.
• Heat some of the lard in a small frying pan and fry the sesame seeds until a deep golden color, a few seconds. Strain, putting the fat back into the pan and the seeds into the blender jar, and blend as smooth as possible. Fry the rest of the ingredients, except the chiles and chocolate, 1 by 1, strain, and put into the blender jar, blending after each addition and adding water or broth, as necessary, to release the blades.
• Heat 1/4 cup of the lard in the heavy pan in which you are going to cook the mole, add the blended mixture, and fry over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan from time to time, for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, put a few of the chiles and about 2 cups of the water in which they were soaking into the blender jar and blend until smooth. When you have blended all the chiles, add them to the fried ingredients together with the chocolate and cook for 5 minutes longer.
• Add about 4 cups of the chicken broth and continue cooking for 35 minutes. Skim the fat that forms on the top if you are going to make tamales or mole. It is added to color and flavor the masa. Add more broth if necessary, the mole should just coat the back of a wooden spoon. Add the chicken and salt to taste; cook for 10 minutes longer.