Cheese enchiladas with Mole Sauce
Cheese enchiladas with Mole Sauce
Saturday, October 19, 2013 - 06:56
Everytime I think of the word 'mole' I envision the Austion Powers movie Goldmember where Austin is fascinated with Number 3's facial feature and can't help but yell "mole mole MOLE!!!!" hahahahaha ;) Anyhow, I dgress. This post is abot mole, the Mexican sauce made from dried pepper, dried fruits, and nuts. It's complicated, I won't pretend otherwise. But it is SO worth the effort. And, it makes enough that you can freeze some for another time.
Mole
4 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deveined
4 dried mulato chiles (Maybe don’t use these, and use only 8 peppers?)
4 pasilla chiles
1 quart chicken stock, reserved from poaching chicken
5 tablespoons vegetable oil , divided
1 ripe plantain
¼ cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup shelled unsalted peanuts
1 medium white onion, cut into large dice
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 black peppercorns
¼ tsp cloves
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 corn tortilla, torn into small pieces
3 ounces Mexican chocolate or unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
De-stem and de-seed chilis. In a large heavy dry skillet, toast the chiles to a deep brown color over medium-high heat, turning, 1 to 2 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with hot stock, and soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and transfer to a blender. Puree, adding chicken stock as necessary, to blend. Reserve chili liquid for later.
In a large skillet or saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the sesame seeds and peanuts, and cook, stirring, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and add to the blender with the chiles. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the pan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft and starting to color, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the cinnamon, black peppercorns, cloves, and coriander seeds and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add to the blender. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the tortilla pieces, and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add to the blender with enough of the chile soaking liquid (or chicken stock) to puree to a paste.
To the skillet, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add the paste and and simmer, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken stock, the chocolate, and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and cook, stirring, to melt the chocolate.