Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Polo en Mole


(chicken in mole sauce)
This recipe makes a lot of mole sauce, enough to make at least three other meat dishes with it, we like to make it with ribs. You can exchange any other meat for the chicken and use the sauce over and over again, just keep the sauce separate from the meat each time and add it to your broth to your taste.

Ingredients:
1 large roasting hen
3 onions
1 head garlic
2 cubes tomato broth concentrate (Knorr Caldo de Tomate)
2/3 cup sesame seeds
½ cup oil
½ cup peanuts
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
4 roma tomatoes, or 3 ordinary tomatoes
3 chiles ancho
4 chiles negros
4 chiles guajillos
4 chiles pasillas
5-15 chiles de arbol (these control the hotness)
2 bannanas
¼ cup raisins
1 stale tortilla
2 slices stale bread
4 whole cloves
1 tsp. cumin seeds
3 bay leaves
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 tsp oregano
2 circles Mexican chocolate(Abuelita Brand)
The majority of these ingredients will need to be purchased at a Mexican Groceria. Most regular supermarkets do not carry the chiles.

Directions:
Wash the chicken, remove the skin, and separate it into serving-sized pieces. Put the chicken in a large stock pot and cover with cold water. Put one onion and half the head of garlic in the pot with the chicken. Just peel the onion and put it in whole. Drop the broth concentrate into the water, then put the pot over high heat. When the stock boils, lift off the scum that rises and discard it. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and allow the chicken to cook for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet brown the sesame seeds (without oil) over medium high heat. The seeds will pop and make a minor mess; most will stay in the pan. Transfer the seeds to a blender or food processor. Pour the oil into the pan and allow it to get hot. Wash the chiles and separate the stems. Dry them (well!) and fry each briefly in the oil (this will be a little dangerous, as the moist chiles will splatter a lot). Transfer each chile to the blender jar or food processor; if they don't fit, just reserve them in a bowl. The seeds should be left in the chiles. Fry the tomatoes in the oil until the skins blacken a little, then transfer them to the blender.
Lift the chicken from the stock and set aside. Strain the stock, and add enough to the blender to enable blending of the chiles, tomatoes, and sesame. Blend all together well, then press the blended product through a sieve. You'll have to do this in batches unless you have a commercial sized blender. Discard the seeds and skins that remain behind in the sieve. Transfer the smooth blended chiles to a large pot.
In the skillet, sautee in succession the nuts and seeds, 2 onions, the remaining garlic (peeled), the two bananas (sliced in half lengthwise but not peeled ), the raisins, the tortilla, and the bread. The onions and garlic should be lightly browned, as should the nuts. The bananas should be allowed to get soft and translucent (sort-of). The raisins should be allowed to plump and brown slightly; it should take only about a minute. The tortilla and bread should be well browned. Transfer all these ingredients to the blender, along with the herbs and spices. Purree until smooth with some stock, then add to the purreed chiles. Add stock as desired(almost all of it will be needed). Put the sauce over medium-high heat, drop in the chocolate, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for about 45 minutes. Serve with rice.


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