National Dishes of the World

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Mole poblano
Photo: AlejandroLinaresGarcia, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish

Mole poblano

Chicken or turkey in a thick, dark sauce of several dried chillies, nuts, spices and a little chocolate.

Eaten in: Mexico

Prep
45 min
Cooking
2 h
Total
2 h 45 min
Servings
6

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About the dish

Mole poblano is a festive dish from Puebla and is considered one of the great dishes of Mexican cooking. The sauce is made from several dried chillies – ancho, mulato and pasilla – which are toasted and blended with tomatoes, onion, garlic, almonds, sesame seeds, raisins, fried tortilla, cinnamon and cloves, with a piece of chocolate stirred in at the end. The result is a thick, almost black sauce that is gently hot, sweetish and slightly bitter all at once. The chocolate does not dominate; it simply rounds off the chillies. Mole is served with chicken or turkey, sprinkled with toasted sesame, alongside rice and tortillas. Making it from scratch takes hours, so many families save it for celebrations and buy ready-made paste at the market for everyday cooking.

Main ingredients

  • chicken or turkey
  • dried ancho, mulato and pasilla chillies
  • tomatoes
  • almonds
  • sesame seeds
  • raisins
  • chocolate
  • cinnamon

Mexico: It comes from Puebla and is cooked all over the country for weddings, christenings and holidays. Oaxaca is famous for its own seven moles.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Mole poblano

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/mole-poblano

Ingredients

6 servings

6 servings

Method

  1. Simmer the chicken gently in the stock for 35–40 minutes. Lift out the meat and keep the stock.

  2. Remove the stems and seeds from the chillies, toast them briefly in a dry pan, cover with hot stock and leave for 20 minutes.

  3. In a tablespoon of fat, fry the almonds, sesame seeds, raisins, torn tortilla and spices one after another, each only until lightly browned, as anything burnt will turn bitter.

  4. Char the tomatoes, onion and garlic in a dry pan until blackened in places.

  5. Blend the chillies with their soaking liquid, the fried ingredients and the tomatoes, onion and garlic, adding stock as needed, to a very smooth paste. Push it through a sieve.

  6. Heat the remaining fat in a large pot, add the paste and fry for 10 minutes, stirring, until it darkens. Gradually stir in about 1 l of stock, add the chocolate, sugar and salt and simmer for 40 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.

  7. Return the chicken to the sauce and heat through for 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds, with rice and warm tortillas.

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