Mexico is heaven for food, but amongst everything that it had on offer, the dish that I loved the most during my trip there was Mole Poblano, a thick black sauce made with different type of chillies, dark chocolate, nuts, dried fruits, spices and herbs. It's savoury, sweet, spicy, slightly bitter, nutty and fruity, all fusing into complex and sophisticated layers upon layers of flavours that you discover and rediscover with every single bite. Strolling through the local market was a joy as it was usually packed with mole vendors inviting to you have a taste of their secret family recipe and every single one of them was a delight to taste. Perhaps it's the complexity in it all that to my disappointment, it had never made it to any Mexican restaurant in Melbourne. My craving for this special dish the past few years is what ultimately gave me the motivation to search for the most complex Mole Poblano recipe I can find to try replicate that food memory. The one I found and used is not for the faint hearted. It listed 32 ingredients and 4 hours of preparation time, all just for the sauce. It took me some time to look up and collect all the special Mexican chillies in the recipe from a Mexican grocer (and thus the start of my Mexican cuisine week) but it was a lovely little challenge having done this. In this recipe I have focused on the sauce, and paired with a simple succulent sous vide chicken breast, crispy chicken skin and avocado mousse. Happiness is found on a plate again.
Little fun fact, the mole sauce served at Pujol, number 12 restaurant in the world in 2020, had over 100 ingredients and had been cooking for over 1000 days. If you are interested to have a peek into what's in their recipe, here's a link for a simpler version of Pujol's famous mole sauce.
The mole recipe I've adapted from was by Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu from Cenaduria La Casita Mexicana restaurant, shared by Deniel Neman here.
(c) Rights to photos reserved. The second photo was mole sauce sold in a local market in Mexico city.
Difficulty: Difficult
Time: 4-5 hrs (requires preparation over 2 days)
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 50g dried whole mulato chilies
- 50g dried whole pasilla negro chilies
- 50g dried whole ancho chilies
- 8 dried whole chipotle chilies
- 1½ cups oil
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 large plum tomatoes
- ½ small onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- ¼ teaspoon coriander seeds
- ¼ teaspoon anise seeds
- 2 tablespoons pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- ¾ teaspoon black peppercorns
- 2 cloves
- ½ cup sesame seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ¼ green banana
- ¼ cup shelled raw peanuts
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon blanched almonds
- 1/3 cup raisins
- leaves from 1 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig Italian parsley
- 2 tbsp salt
- 100g Mexican chocolate chopped (use dark chocolates that's at least 85%. I used Lindt 90% dark chocolate)
- ½ to 1 cup sugar, according to taste
Sous Vide Chicken Breast
- 3 large chicken breast, skin reserved
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Crispy Chicken Skin
- skin from 3 chicken breast
- salt
- oil
Avocado Mousse
- 1 large ripe avocado
- 1 tbsp lime juice to taste
- salt
- pepper
Garnish
- fresh coriander leaves
Method
The Night Prior
1. The day before making the mole, remove the stems and seeds from the chillies, rinse the chillies and pat dry. Reserve ¾ teaspoon of the seeds and set aside. Heat ½ cup oil in a large skillet, add the chilies (in batches if necessary) and fry over medium heat until glossy. Drain and place in a cast iron pot. Cover with 5 cups hot water, add the vinegar and let stand overnight.
On the Day
1. Drain the chillies and reserve the soaking liquid. Working in batches, place the drained chillies in a blender. Add enough soaking liquid to blend them smoothly. Repeat with the remaining chilies and set the mixture aside. This makes about 4 cups.
2. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Do not peel them before or after roasting. Slice ½ small onion crosswise into 1cm thick pieces. Roast the tomatoes, sliced onion and 2 cloves of garlic in an ungreased cast iron pan over medium-high heat until spotted with brown. Set aside.
3. Add the coriander seeds, anise seeds, pepitas, reserved chile seeds, peppercorns, cloves, ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp of the sesame seeds and cinnamon stick to the pan and roast just until fragrant, about one minute. Transfer to another bowl.
4. Add ½ cup oil to the pan. Fry the green banana slices until golden and softened. Remove with a slotted spoon. Set aside.
5. Fry the peanuts, almonds and raisins for about one minute until almonds and peanuts are well browned. Drain on a paper towel. Fry the seeds and spices toasted in step 3 for 30 seconds. Strain them through a sieve, discarding the oil.
6. Heat the remaining ½ cup oil in a cast iron pot. Add the puréed chile mixture and enough of the reserved soaking liquid to keep the puréed mixture from erupting like a volcano when it simmers. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often.
7. Add the fried cinnamon stick to the puréed chile mixture. In a blender, combine the rest of the spices, seeds, nuts and raisins. Grind with enough chile soaking liquid to purée. Add to the chile mixture.
8. Grind the reserved roasted tomatoes, onions and garlic cloves, the thyme leaves and the parsley sprig in the blender with enough chile soaking liquid to purée, then add to the cast iron pot.
9. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until dissolved. Add sugar to taste.
10. Stir constantly over medium heat until the sauce thickens to the desired consistency and becomes very dark for about 30 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, in batches if necessary, and return to a clean pot. Failure to strain the sauce will result in an unpleasant texture filled with flecks of chile skin. Place the sauce over low heat.
11. Start the chicken sous vide approximately 90 minutes prior to dinner time. Season the chicken breasts well with salt and pepper before putting them into ziplock bags with olive oil to ensure the breasts are well coated. Sous vide the chicken in a hot water bath at 62.5 degrees for 1.5 hours.
12. To make the crispy chicken skin, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Using a small, sharp knife, lay the skins skin-side down and scrape off any excess fat and remaining meat. You should be left with just the thin skin. Lay the skins stretched out flat on a greaseproof-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Lay a second sheet of greaseproof paper over the skins then weigh down with another tray. Place in the oven for 10–15 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Place the skins on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.
13. Make the avocado mousse by adding the avocado, lime juice, salt, pepper to a blender. Blend until it reached a smooth consistency. You may need to add a little liquid to help it blend, if so, you can add a heaped tablespoon of mayonnaise, or simply skip this step and enjoy it fresh.
14. Assemble per the photo if you like the presentation, or simply paddle thick mole sauce over sliced sous vide chicken breast, with avocado mousse, chicken skin and fresh coriander leaves. Enjoy!
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