Molé

Maya and I backpacked in Mexico what seems like a long time ago. We had a really great time. We dined daily on street food, sharing every edible morsel and every serendipitous culinary high. Of the highs was corn-on-the-cob slathered in mayonnaise, dusted with chili powder and drizzled with lime juice. We affectionately dubbed the mayonnaise, which festered in large vats under the could-very-likely-spoil-mayonnaise-Mexico City sun, the “salmonella mayonnaise”. We thought this was funny, largely, I suppose, because it didn't make either of us sick. At least we don't think it did.


We also ate a strict diet of nothing but animal crackers, or animalitos, for 24 hours while stuck on a bus that took a very wrong turn somewhere between Mexico City and Oaxaca and refused to pull over for food or anything else. In some ways this was a low, in other ways a high. It's complicated.


My pivotal brush with gastronomical ecstasy was definitely molé. Molé is a sauce of ground nuts, spices, chilies and bitter chocolate. It is the one food I ate in Mexico that I have since sought out with a religious-like zeal.


But finding a truly satisfying molé in Toronto over the years has not always been easy. If on the menu at all, it is often sparingly drizzled over enchiladas, when in Mexico it was lavishly poured over chicken and rice. Otherwise, it is really expensive, when in Mexico, while I don’t remember anymore, it must have been cheap otherwise we wouldn’t have eaten it.

In making molé, I didn’t follow any one recipe. As a starting point, I looked to the Everything Mexican Cookbook, which you do not need to run out and buy unless you too can find it on sale for $5.00 at BMV. I also relied on the wisdom (read: chili recommendations) of my favourite bulk store owner in Kensington. Then I added veggie broth instead of chicken broth, a slew of different nuts, ignored all quantities, probably tripled the chocolate (I’d know for sure if I even knew now what an “ounce” was), and added this Mexican chocolate in the picture here,

which is sweetened, instead of unsweetened/baker’s chocolate.


And it should come as no surprise that I found the molé to be too sweet (and so did Maya). It wasn’t that sweet, and was still good, but part of the complexity of molé is that it is a spicy and savoury chocolate dish. I do believe, generally, in upping the chocolate quantities in recipes that call for baker’s chocolate (we can discuss my unsweetened chocolate loaf another time), but I would rarely suggest increasing the sugar in any recipe unless in an attempt to convert the product into a preserve.

As you can see in the photos above, my molé is more stew than sauce. I’ve stopped serving it on chicken because I just don’t see the point. It’s thick and flavourful, rich and nutty, and stands on its own. But feel free to add chicken or anything else that you want.


You may also think that my photos look weird and that maybe molé is gross. I say, wrong. And look at this photo of someone else's molé that I found online. A ridiculously horrible call on that person's part. But I'm sure that even his/her molé is delicious.

Molé

Ingredients

• 2 guajillo chilies
• 2 pasilla chilies
• 2 morita chilies
• 2 ancho chilies
• 2 mulato chilies
• 1 large onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 can of tomatoes
• ½ cup salted peanuts
• 1/3 cup raisins
• ½ cup almonds
• 1/3 cup cashews
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar - optional
• ¼ teaspoon anise
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup chicken stock/veggie stock
• 2-4 ounces (or more) unsweetened chocolate
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Directions
• Remove the stems and seeds from the chilies. Peel and quarter the onion and garlic.
• Blend chilies, onion, garlic, tomatoes and juice, peanuts, almonds, cashews, raisins and sesame seeds in food processor until you get a thick puree.
• Heat oil on medium heat in a pot. Add the puree and cook for approximately 5 minutes, constantly stirring. Stir in the sugar (optional in my opinion), anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin and stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
• Add chocolate and continue to simmer, stirring constantly.
• Season to taste.
• Serve on rice as is or toss in some shredded chicken.