Food Mexico and Me Aug. 2015 | Page 14

Mexican Chocolate Mole Recipe Ingredients: Dried chiles, seeded and without veins and stems: 25 mulato chile 3 pasilla chile 10 ancho chile 5 chipotle chile 3 meco chile Seeds & dried fruits: 500 gr almond 500 gr raisins 1 tbsp aniseed 1 tbsp dried cilantro 1/2 tbsp whole black pepper 3 cloves 1 cinnamon stick Sweets 5 pieces of Mexican chocolate 1/2 cup sugar Vegetables: 1 head of garlic 3 tomatoes, chopped and seeded Other ingredients: 3 bolillo (small French bread) 1 tortilla Salt, to taste Pork lard to fry Directions: 1. In a big flat skillet or comal (a flat pan) at medium heat, add a tablespoon of lard. When melted, fry all the chiles, taking care not to burn them, especially the chipotle chile as it will make a very hot mole. 2. As soon as they are fried, place them in a bowl. 3. In the same comal, fry the almonds and then place them in the bowl with the chiles. 4. Proceed with this same method with the raisins, aniseed, cilantro, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon. Be careful not to burn the ingredients. When finished, place them in the bowl with the chiles. 5. Now it is time to fry separately the bolillo, tortilla and chocolate. Check if you need a little more lard to fry the ingredients, taking care not to burn them. After the frying is finished, place them in the bowl with the chiles. 6. In a separate pan or comal, fry the tomatoes with very little lard. Please note that this is the whole preparation for the mole paste. If you want to prepare mole sauce for enchiladas, shredded chicken or whole chicken pieces, in a pan, fry some mole paste (1 1/2 cup) at medium heat in a little lard until it softens and then add chicken stock (3-4 cups) gradually until obtaining a thick sauce. If the mole is too hot or spicy you can add more small pieces of Mexican chocolate to taste. 7. In an ungreased comal at medium heat, roast all the garlic cloves until brown (5 minutes). Then add them to the bowl with the chiles. 8. In a clean pan at medium heat, toast the sugar without melting it and add it to bowl with the chiles. 9. Now that all the ingredients have been fried, toasted and roasted, grind them in a food processor or and industrial coffee mill, or you can use the typical Mexican Metate, which is a stone board with a cylindrical stone used to hand grind the ingredients. 10. You must obtain a creamy paste. You can use the mole immediately or store it in the refrigerator 14  Food Mexico and Me  Special Edition 2015 www.mexico.is