BLACK MOLE FROM OAXACA (MOLE NEGRO DE OAXACA)

Steps:

• 1. First the day before making your mole you will need to make a rich chicken stock. Cook two chickens cut into pieces, in a deep heavy pot cover pieces with cold water add a medium onion, some garlic cloves a little salt and some garlic powder cover on medium flame and cook for about 1 1/2 hours. Ensure you have at least 12 cups of good rich broth. When chicken is done take out pieces and put into a seperate pan let cool & cover and refrigerate for the next day. Do not over cook the chicken you want tender nice pieces, not chicken falling off the bone. When broth cools strain and refrigerate. All of the ingredients for the this broth are in addition to what is on the sauce ingredient list above. Next day skim of the fat from the top and put on back burner until ready to use.
• 2. Clean the dried chilies with a damp cloth. Open the chiles by making a slit and removing the stem, seeds and membranes. Be sure to get all of the seeds out. They will cause you sauce to be bitter. After cleaning all of the dried chilies put into a sauce pan cover with cold water and put on medim flame let the chilies begin to boil for 5 minutes. Then shut off heat and let steep in this water for 10 more minutes. Make sure you have the extractor or ventilator on over the stove when doing this. Chile fumes can be strong. After the chilies have soaked for 10 minutes remove to a blender and with a little of the soaking water blend down to a puree. (Do not throw the remaining soaking water away Save it you will need it later). Take out chile puree and set aside in a seperate bowl.
• 3. On a cookie sheet place your onion cut in half cut side down, tomatillos cut side down, the tomato leave whole but turn once or twice while roasting. Four peeled garlic cloves all to roast under the broiler. Do not let veggies char only to roast until somwhat brown, keep checking to make sure your veggies do not burn. Turn tomato just to get some nice browning spots. This should take about 4/5 minutes under the broiler. Some people do on a griddle but it's faster under the broiler. Remove veggies and puree everything in the blender. everything must be completly pureed. Set aside in a seperate dish.
• 4. In a cast iron pan if available or a heavy large fry pan heat 1 tablespoon lard or oil and fry raisins until they puf up and brown a bit again I can't begin to remind do not scorch or burn the raisins. Remove the raisins and set aside. Add a little more lard or oil and fry gently the almonds, pecans, and the peanuts frying for five minutes on a medium to low flame careful not to burn. All this takes times you cannot hurry because burning or scorching any of these nuts will cause your sauce to be bitter. Nuts should be a golden brown. Remove nuts and set aside. Next in the same frying pan add a little more lard or oil and fry your torn bread pieces lightly then put bread in the oven for about ten minutes to toast a bit. After 10 minutes remove bread from oven. Next in that same frying pan cut your ripe plantains in small pieces and fry in oil or lard until golden. Remove the plantains to a seperate pan. Last fry the tortilla in a little bit more oil or lard until crispy again being careful not to burn. Remove fried tortilla to bread pan. Heat another heavy fry pan no oil or lard please. Keep heat down on medium low Add your spices to toast sesame seeds, cinnamon sticks anise, cloves, cumin seeds, black peppercorns and pumpkin seeds slowly. Toast until they are a fragarant do not burn or scorch. Put into a spice grinder or coffee grinder and pulse until totaly ground to a powder. Note if you do not have whole cumin seeds then add ground cumin powder to your mixture at the end after you have pulsed your spices. Next add your powdered spices to the just ground spices refering to the oregano, tyme and marjoram.
• 5. At this time start to heat your chicken broth. When hot reduce to a simmer you don't want it to boil. Place the ground spices, the pureed veggies, the fried plantains, and a cup of chicken broth and blend into a smooth paste. Place in a bowl and set aside. Next place the bread, tortilla, and a little more broth and blend into a puree. Add some of the pureed chiles and continue to blend everything in little batches until all the bread, tortilla mixture is pureed and mixed with the chile puree Everything should be very well incorporated. Next put the nuts, remaining 2 cloves garlic,raisins and chocolate in the blender add a little of the water (about 1/2 cup) from the soaked chiles and blend to a smooth paste. By this time all of your ingredients should be well blended in a smooth paste or pureed except for the flour and sugar. Mix all of your pureed ingredients together. The bread and chilis, the veggies, the spices the nuts and chocolate mixture. Everything mix real real good. Taste for salt saesoning. (I have left out the avacado leaves because this is very hard for some to find. If you are close to a location that has fresh avacado leaves wash four and put aside for one of the final steps.
• 6. In a deep heavy pot heat some more lard or oil, add the flour and begin to make a roux. Roux should be sautied to a golden brown then add about 2 cups of all your pureed mixture. With a large wisk begin to mix roux with the puree mixture. Your mixture will begin to get thick and be hard to stir. Start adding 2 or three cupfulls of hot chicken broth and wisking constantly until you have a nice consistency then add all of the remaing pureed mixture and about 8/10 cupfuls of the chicken broth. Keep stirring with the wisk until you have a smooth sauce. Taste to see if it has enough salt. If it is a little bitter add the sugar a little at a time. Each time tasting to see if the bitternes is gone. Your sauce should be savory, and spicy not sweet. If you have the avacado leaves now you add them to the sauce whole not cut with your cooked chicken pieces from which you made your broth. Simmer mole sauce and chicken on low flame for about 45 minutes. If sauce is too thick add more chicken broth. Remove avacado leaves and discard. Serve Mole and chicken with Mexican rice and warm tortillas. Sprinkle a few toasted sesame seeds over the mole when serving. I have the recipe posted for Mexican rice. I will be making this mole this weekend and will post the picture of the finished dish. This is not an easy dish. Mole Negro is a labor intensive and the most arduous of all the mole recipes. It is done in steps and takes patience. The reward is a melt in your mouth sauce and chicken that few have a chance to experience here in the U.S. Note: Do not use any other chocolate except the Mexican chocolate your mole will loose it's character & notoriety it is famous for. Mexican chocolate can be found in the Latin food section of your supermarket. Enjoy