Passport & Plate - Mole Manchamanteles Oaxaqueño

sallyv — Wed, 4 Mar 2015 10:29:16 GMT

Ingredients
Mole Manchamanteles Oaxaqueño
Adapted from “Seasons of My Heart” by Susana Trilling

MEAT:

3- 4 cups chicken stock (more if poaching meat)
4 – 8 cooked chicken breasts or thighs (enough for 8 servings). Poached in stock is best.

MOLE SAUCE:

Chiles – all stemmed, seeded, deveined:
4.5 oz. chiles anchos rojos (about 13)
2 oz. chiles guajillos (about 11)
1 oz. chiles chilcostle (about 4)

Vegetables:
1 lb. ripe tomatoes
1 small white onion, quartered
5 cloves garlic

Nuts/Seeds/Dried Fruit:
½ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup almonds
1 T. pecans
¼ cup raisins

Spices/Herbs:
2 whole cloves
2 whole peppercorns
1 whole allspice
1 inch piece of cinnamon (preferably Mexican)
½ tsp. dried Mexican oregano (or 2 sprigs fresh)
2-3 tsp. salt (or to taste)

Fruit:
2 cups sliced ripe plantains
2 cups pineapple cubes

Oils:
2-4 T. light-flavored vegetable oil (sunflower, safflower, canola, etc)

How to prepare this recipe
Chile Prep:
• Boil 4 cups water
• In a dry heavy skillet, on medium heat, toast the chiles in batches, until they give off their aroma, and their skins are darkened and begin to blister.
• Soak toasted chiles in hot water for 30 minutes.
• Put soaked chiles in a blender (use tongs) with just enough soaking liquid to puree
• Pass puree through a food mill or fine-meshed strainer to remove bits of skin. Set aside.

Spice Prep:
• In a dry heavy skillet, on medium heat, toast the spices until they give off their aroma
• Grind in a spice grinder or mortar/pestle. Set aside.

Onion/Spice/Raisin/Nut Prep:
• In a dry heavy skillet, lightly toast the onion quarters and whole garlic cloves until slightly browned. Set aside
• Heat 1T. oil in dry heavy skillet on medium heat. fry remaining nuts 2-3 minutes, until lightly brown. Set aside.
• Fry raisins 1-2 minutes, until plump. Set aside.

Sesame Seed Prep:
• Heat 1T oil in dry heavy skillet on medium heat. Fry sesame seeds 2-3 minutes, until lightly brown. Cool, then crush in spice grinder or mortar/pestle. Set aside
• Put onions, garlic, nuts, raisins, and ground sesame seeds in a blender. Add 1 cup stock, puree well. Set aside.

Tomato Prep:
• Chop tomatoes and add to dry skillet with oregano. Sauté on low-medium heat 8-10 minutes, until some juices evaporate. Puree, set aside.

Assembly:
• Heat 2 T. oil in heavy soup pot on low-medium heat. Add chile puree and sauté 20 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture dries out.
• Add tomatoes and cook 15 more minutes, until more moisture has evaporated.
• Add pureed remaining ingredients, salt and cook 20 minutes.
• Cool. Puree once more to ensure silky consistency
• Thin with stock if needed. Add plantain and pineapple. Heat through.
• Adjust salt and thin with more stock if needed. Sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Reheat cooked chicken and assemble on plates, ladle sauce over it with generous chunks of pineapple and plantain for each person.

The story behind this recipe
“Whatchamacallit, señora” my waiter seemed to say for the third time. I stared blankly at him, struggling to comprehend. I don’t speak Spanish, so I’d simply pointed to an entree listed on the menu and hoped for the best. It was my first day in Oaxaca, and I was travelling solo in order to fully immerse myself in the region’s rich culture and heritage. After spending the entire day wandering the city I was exhausted – I’d eat whatever he was talking about. Whatchamacallit indeed.

When my Mole Manchamanteles arrived, I only glanced at the reddish lumpy stew and before diving in. After one bite, I was utterly transfixed! The rich, spicy, fruity sauce just exploded with flavor and every bite seemed to bring forth new layers of complexity, like a vintage wine with a long finish. The sweet chunks of pineapple and plantain paired perfectly with the heat of the chiles, and the other “whatchamacallits” in that sauce seemed to provide a robust backdrop to the sweet/hot drama of its star ingredients. I was determined to track them down.

Oaxaca’s markets are a wonderland of sights and smells, and as seductive as a taste of one of it’s seven divine moles. Wandering through the labyrinth of craft and produce vendors, I came across stall after stall heaped with great mounds of ruby, golden, and purple dried chiles. I had never seen so many varieties! I pulled out my pocket dictionary so I could order a few ounces to take home.

After that first mole, I tried each of Oaxaca’s seven wonders of the world during my stay and bought a fantastic cookbook. Mole Manchamanteles Oaxaqueño introduced me to the culinary delights of this vibrant region of Mexico, and it was the first mole I made with the dried chiles that I brought home. Making mole is quite a challenge! But it’s a labor of love, and I discovered that cooking it is as wonderfully immersive as eating it.

Holy Mole!

Passport & Plate - Mole Manchamanteles Oaxaqueño