Travel Photography

Passport & Plate - Mole Poblano

Mexico | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
4 chicken legs
50 gr. Mulato chili
50 gr. Ancho chili
25 gr. Guajillo chili
25 gr. Chipotle chili
25 gr. Pasilla chili
25 gr. chili seeds (from chilies above)
50 gr. almonds
50 gr. raisins
5 peppercorns
2 tomatoes
3 cloves
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 cinnamon sticks
30 gr. sesame seeds
1 stale tortilla
100 gr. semi-bitter chocolate
1/2 cup corn oil
3 tbsp. sugar
salt

 

How to prepare this recipe
Chicken Preparation Instructions:

Boil chicken legs in abundant water with onion, garlic and salt.
When chicken is fully cooked, drain from stock (reserve stock).
Heat 2 tbsp. oil in frying pan.
Brown chicken legs until golden

Mole Preparation Instructions:

Break chilies into small pieces, separating the seeds.
Heat reminder of oil in a pot on medium heat.
Put in chilies, chili seeds, almonds, raisins, peppercorns, tomatoes, cloves, cinnamon sticks and stale tortilla.
Stir until golden.
Process the fried mix in food processor.
Bring back to pot and add chocolate and sugar.
Stir in 2 1/2 cups chicken stock.
Continue cooking on low heat until desired consistency is achieved.
Cover the chicken pieces with mole sauce.
Garnish with sesame seeds.

 

The story behind this recipe
Mole Poblano is one of Mexico's two national dishes. It was on my first trip there that I tasted this rich and fiery combination of cocoa, chilies and spices served over tender chicken. The delicious sauce had me instantly hooked! For the remainder of two weeks, I ate one Mole Poblano plate every day, almost always in a different restaurant.

Back in Canada, I scoured for recipes which I tried one-by-one. While good, they never quite matched the intense flavor and subtle notes of what I had tasted in Mexico. So, I flew to Puebla, where Santa-Rosa nuns invented the recipe for a visiting Archbishop, who liked it so much that he rewarded them by covering their entire kitchen in shiny Talavera tiles.

Around the convent, I started asking where to get the five varieties of dried chilies that make Mole Poblano. As I explored the narrow streets in search for a specialty store, I realized how much Mole Poblano is a reflection of the Mexican people: intense flavors fused into an astonishing and perfectly balanced blend. The sharpness of the chilies is softened by cocoa and punctuated by spices like cinnamon and sesame.

Finally, I found an elderly woman behind stacks of unlabeled dried chiles under a carp. She recognized every variety and had a recipe for Mole Poblano. Bags of chilies made it home with me and, every time I open them, their intense smell takes me back to Puebla.