Chicken with Mole Sauce - Mole Poblano con Pollo

Recipe for a classic Mexican dish - chicken with Mole sauce

Mole is the traditional Mexican sauce served with chicken or enchiladas, but there are a variety of recipes according to family tradition and state. Some recipes use up to 35 different ingredients, but all recipes have in common the use of bitter chocolate and the particularly tasty Mexican chillis, mulato, ancho and chipotles. The preparation is a little complex, but absolutely worth it!

Ingredients for 4 persons

4 chicken fillets or legs or turkey cutlets
2 dried ancho chillies
2 dried pasilla chillies
4 dried Mulato chillies
1 chipotle chilli pepper
1 onion
2 tomatoes
8 garlic cloves
1 - 1.5 liters chicken broth
125 g butterfat
100 g unsalted peanuts
50 g peeled almonds
100 g sesame seed
50 g raisins
50 g prunes, roughly chopped
1 plantain
4 cloves
3 allspice corns
2 spikes of star anise
1 tsp of Mexican oregano
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tblsp raw cane sugar
100 g dark chocolate (70%)
Salt, pepper

preparation

Cook the meat in the chicken broth for 10 minutes, remove and dry with paper towel. Set broth aside!
Quarter the onion and place it together with garlic and tomatoes in a roasting tray and cook for about 15 minutes in the oven at the highest level. Soak the chillies in hot water for 15 minutes. Peel the plantain and cut into slices.
In a pan, heat 1 tblsp of butterfat over medium heat and toast the peanuts and almonds until they are golden brown and set aside. Then sauté the baking plums, cooking banana and the raisins and add to the nuts. Finally, toast the sesame seed to golden brown and remove. Remove a little sesame seed and set aside for the garnish.
Then toast the cloves, star anise, allspice briefly in the pan, until they smell. Combine with Oregano, cinnamon and sesame seeds in a mortar to make a paste and then add to the nut mixture.  Drain the chillies and finely purify them with a little chicken broth in the blender. Then add the nut mixture, spices and another 250 ml chicken broth and mix in the blender to a thick paste. Pour more broth when necessary.
Heat 50 g of butterfat in a pot, add the puree and simmer for about 5 minutes while stirring under medium heat. Then pour in 500 ml of the broth and 250 ml of water, season with plenty of pepper, salt and sugar and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. If necessary, add more chicken broth. Chop the chocolate and add to the sauce and simmer for additional 10 minutes.
In the meantime, fry the meat, serve with the sauce and rice, and garnish with roasted sesame seed.

Image source: Fotolia #115973049 © tpophoto