Mole is a traditional dark colored sauce used in authentic Mexican cuisine, with intense flavor from spices , chilies and chocolates.Generally, a mole sauce contains a fruit, chili pepper, nut, spices and chocolate or cocoa powder.
The history of this sauce according to Wikipedia goes back to a convent in Puebla where the nuns created the dish in a panic from whatever few ingredients they had as they were not wealthy, which consisted of chilies ,spices and little chocolate , due to the impending visit of an archbishop and everything was mixed up together to form this sauce which was called “mole” an ancient word for mix.
The history of this sauce according to Wikipedia goes back to a convent in Puebla where the nuns created the dish in a panic from whatever few ingredients they had as they were not wealthy, which consisted of chilies ,spices and little chocolate , due to the impending visit of an archbishop and everything was mixed up together to form this sauce which was called “mole” an ancient word for mix.
I prepared this recipe for the #theWildAsparagustable #potluck event at the Katlyn Beer Garden. This is a community built by the Saloni who is the co-founder of FBAI(Food blogger Association of India) and a food enthusiast and chef Ananya Banerjee who is a renowned chef, homechef and cookbook author. The community consists of a group of food enthusiasts, home chefs, home bakers, bloggers, culinery students and individuals passionate about the art of cooking. The community motivates and promotes International cuisine through potluck where members bring dishes which belong to a specific cuisine according to the theme of the month. This month the theme was “Mexican”.
The venue of the event was Katlyn’s Beer Garden which has an exiting menu consisting of various drinks ,cocktails, mocktails and finger food.
We were served cocktails ,”Beetroot with a twist” which was flavored with beetroot juice colorful and tempting, “Berry bliss”,tequila flavored with cranberries and basil and “melon drop”,tequilla flavored with melon juice.
The venue of the event was Katlyn’s Beer Garden which has an exiting menu consisting of various drinks ,cocktails, mocktails and finger food.
We were served cocktails ,”Beetroot with a twist” which was flavored with beetroot juice colorful and tempting, “Berry bliss”,tequila flavored with cranberries and basil and “melon drop”,tequilla flavored with melon juice.
For this recipe, courtesy and thanks to the Foodies+ community of Google+, and Azlin Bloor and special thanks to @Joy Gordon from JoyousKitchen whose recipe I first saw in the community post. I came to know about this dish from her post. I tweaked the recipe with research as per the availability of ingredients. Recipe is as follows
Ingredients
Main ingredient
500 gm boneless chicken breasts
4 to 5 cups of chicken broth
4 to 5 cups of chicken broth
Mole sauce
vegetables
- 2 onions
- 8 to 10 garlic
- 2 Mexican poblano chilies(Indian bhavnagari chili )
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Spices
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 to 5 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
Chilies
4 to 5 dried ancho chilies( Substitute Dried Kasmiri red chilies)
4 Dried Red chilies
Nuts
8 to 10 Almonds
1 tbsp peanut butter
Fruits
1 orange juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
Chocolate
20 gms of dark cooking chocolate
Preparation
Vegetables
Roast the vegetables with olive oil for 20 to 25 minutes flipping sides.
Spices
Roast the spices on a griddle or pan till smoky and then taken off
grind them till smooth
Chilies
- Boil the chilies submerged in water for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Preserve the fluid.
- Use while grinding
Preparing chicken
- Rub chicken with salt and pepper.
- Shallow fry the pieces in olive oil or peanut oil or any vegetable oil flipping sides.
- I used vegetable oil
Making sauce
- Add chilies, spices, nuts ,fruits ,peanut butter and roasted vegetables in the grinder and grind till smooth
- Strain the sauce in a strainer till a smooth sauce is got
- Heat a tbsp of oil in the pan.
- Add the strained pulp
- Cook in low flame stirring all along for 15 to 20 minutes
- Add chicken stock if it gets too thick
- Add orange juice
- Cook the chicken in the sauce in low flame covered till tender. Dont over cook.
- Dissolve a tbsp of cornflour in stock and add that in the sauce.
- Serve with Mexican rice
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Brilliant recipe. So beautifully explained. Loved it ♥️
Thank you so much
I just love how it all came together, Indrani. I think the Indian spices in there must really add depth to the dish.
Thank you for the mention and link back to my blog, btw. That was a pleasant surprise.
Thank you Azlin. Means a lot coming from you