When most of us hear the word mole we think “chocolate chicken” and then either salivate or curl the lip. In fact, the mole story is far more complex than the legendary creation probably first concocted in the kitchen of the (ex)-Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla. Mole poblano may be best known here, but in Mexico everyone knows that moles are prepared all over, and actually Oaxaca is most famous for the sheer variety of its moles, as well as the savor. Any mention of la cocina oaxaqueña and someone will automatically say, “Oh yes, the seven moles of Oaxaca.”
The word mole comes from the Nahuatl, the language of the ancient Aztecs and their empire. It names a complex sauce, or the finished dish made with this complex sauce. To illustrate the difference between a mole and a salsa, let’s first prepare a simple (virtual) everyday salsa (not to be confused with a chunky salsa cruda [raw sauce] or table condiment).
To make a salsa de chile cascabel, for example, we first select a few dried cascabeles, round and hard, with a bright rattle from the seeds inside when shaken, which gives them their name. We toast the chiles lightly on a hot comal – griddle – until they are fragrant and pliable, but not smoky. Then we tear open the chiles, discarding cap, seeds (probably, although we could save the seeds for use as a spicing agent), and as much of the membranous ribs inside as possible. We cover the chile pieces with boiling water and let them soak for at least twenty minutes. An hour is better.
I should mention that somewhere along the way we need to place some meat into a kettle (chicken parts, chunks of pork shoulder, turkey, lamb, beef, armadillo, a cutup rabbit, whatever) with water to cover, salt, a piece of white onion, a garlic clove, and a bay leaf or two. With chicken, of course, a rib of celery and a carrot are always welcome, along with a pinch of dried leaf thyme. The meat is simmered gently until tender.
So, back to the salsa: We take a few red ripe tomatoes (the most exotic ingredient in this dish), roast them briefly over a flame to blister the skin, then slide off most of the skin and cut out the caps. We throw the tomatoes into a blender jar (or into a lava-stone mortar and pestle, a molcajete – mole box) along with a few pieces of white onion, a garlic clove, and some salt (the onion and garlic might be previously toasted a bit on the comal to add more flavor). To these few ingredients we add the soaked cascabel pieces and process this mixture to a coarse purée. Note that if we were making a simple Mexican tomato sauce instead of salsa de chile cascabel, we would use instead of the dried chile a piece of chile serrano or other similar fresh green chile.
Next we “fry” the sauce: a large skillet goes over a medium/high flame with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil or lard. When it is hot, we pour in the tomato mixture and stir vigorously. It will sizzle and spit. Then we might add about a half-cup of the chile soaking water, lower the heat, and let the sauce simmer gently, stirring now and then, for maybe 10 to 15 minutes. If the sauce gets too thick we will thin it with meat broth. We correct the seasoning, adding salt to taste and maybe a pinch or two of sugar to compensate for lackluster tomatoes.
So that is a salsa, and it is mixed with the (drained) pieces of meat at serving time, or used to sauce various tortilla dishes in the “corn kitchen.” Everyone has favorite chiles and favorite pairings of chile and meat. A green salsa is very much the same, only the green husk tomatoes (tomatillos in border lingo) are cooked in water before being puréed with white onion, garlic, serrano, and a little handful of fresh coriander (cilantro) or other fresh herb, then “fried” as usual.
A mole is a salsa taken to a higher plane with the addition of nuts, seeds, and spices, even dried fruits and, yes, chocolate. When we are in Mexico we have the option of shopping for a mole paste at the local market, where spice vendors display a dozen or more aromatic pastes in a variety of greens and earth tones, all the way to nearly black. Each has its own special combination of aromatics, enrichments, and chiles, and they may vary regionally.
Armed with one of these products, we can simply go home and make a red or green salsa (without the chile, probably) and stir in the paste. After a few minutes of cooking we have an almost-instant mole that should be delicious, provided the spice vendor has done a good job. Outside Mexico we will have to choose our own mole enrichments, toasting this and that, and creating another purée to add to our salsa after it is fried. After all, the finest cooks create their own mole anyway, so it is a pleasure to follow that tradition.
Below is my teaching recipe, and it is a modern take on the traditional mole from Puebla, using chicken, as it is usually served in restaurants and homes too, instead of the more original turkey.
Mole Poblano
about 8 servings
12 chicken quarters or 16 pieces—8 thighs and 8 breast halves
1 large white onion, sliced
1 large rib celery, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced
1 bay leaf
pinch thyme
2 tablespoons coarse salt
Rinse chicken pieces and place them in a stockpot with vegetables and seasoning and water to cover. Bring to the boil, then lower heat and simmer very gently, skimming during the first 15 minutes, until chicken is very tender but not falling from the bone, about 45 minutes. May be prepared well in advance. Put aside.
6 chile ancho
5 chile mulato
2 chile pasilla
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup blanched slivered almonds
1 stale tortilla, shredded
½ cup raisins
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground anise seed
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 large ripe tomatoes, roasted and peeled
1 cup cooked tomates verdes—tomatillos
½ large white onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablet Mexican chocolate, coarsely chopped
toasted sesame seeds
sliced white onion rings, optional
Toast the chiles in a large hot skillet, turning, just until they are fragrant and pliable, but not smoking. Remove and discard the seeds, caps, and membranes. Cover chiles with boiling water and soak about 20 minutes.
Toast the sesame seeds, almonds, and tortilla in the hot skillet until they begin to color, shaking and stirring constantly. Stir in the raisins, and then the herbs and spices. As soon as the mixture is fragrant, scrape it into a bowl and put aside.
In a blender, purée tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, and garlic with the salt. Place a large, deep skillet or rondo over high heat and add the oil. When it is hot, carefully pour in the tomato mixture—it will splatter—and “fry” it, stirring constantly for a few minutes. Lower heat and let mixture simmer.
Lift the soaked chile pieces out of their water and puree in the blender, adding a little of the water as needed. Add to the tomato sauce. Purée the seed and nut mixture, moistening it as necessary with some of the chicken broth. Blend it very smooth. Add to the sauce.
Cook the mixture very gently, stirring often, for about 20 minutes. Thin with broth as necessary to keep the texture that of a thick sauce. Be careful that it does not burn. May be prepared well in advance to this point.
Stir in the chocolate, and correct seasoning. It will probably need salt and a pinch of sugar too. Drain the chicken pieces. Add them to the sauce and warm it to let the flavors marry. Alternately, you may arrange the chicken pieces on platter or plates and mask with a generous amount of sauce. Present the dish sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and strewn with optional onion slices.
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