Recipes
Mexican
Mole poblano

Mole poblano

Name: Mole poblano
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 200 g chicken leg quarter; 300 ml chicken stock; 1 dried ancho chilli; 1 dried mulato chilli; 1 dried pasilla chilli; 1 dried chipotle chilli; 1 plum tomato; 1 tomatillo; 40 g white onion; 1 clove garlic; 10 g blanched almonds; 15 g raisins; 2 tsp sesame seeds; 1 corn tortilla; 15 g white bread; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 clove; 3 black peppercorns; 1 pinch aniseed; 15 g Mexican chocolate; 1 tbsp lard; 1 tsp sugar; salt; 1 tsp sesame seeds; warm corn tortillas

The great chilli-and-chocolate sauce of Puebla, ground from toasted dried chillies, nuts, seeds, fruit and spices, fried down in lard until it darkens and beads with fat, then spooned over poached chicken with a scatter of sesame seeds.

Mains 25g+ protein 8g+ fibre

110 min30 prep · 80 cookHard1074 kcalper serving

Instructions

Rub the 200 g chicken leg with salt and put it in a small saucepan with 300 ml of chicken stock. Bring to the barest simmer, skim the grey foam, cover partly and poach for 25 minutes, until the juices at the bone run clear. Lift the chicken onto a plate and keep the broth; you should have roughly a cupful.
Set a comal or heavy frying pan over medium heat with no fat. Open out the 1 ancho, 1 mulato, 1 pasilla and 1 chipotle and press them flat on the hot metal for 20-30 seconds a side, until they smell toasty and turn supple, do not let them blacken or the mole will be bitter. Cover with hot water and leave to soak for 20 minutes.
On the same dry comal char the 1 tomato, 1 tomatillo, 40 g of sliced onion and the 1 clove unpeeled garlic clove, turning, for 8-10 minutes until softened and blackened in patches. Peel the garlic and set all of it aside.
Still dry and over medium-low heat, toast in turn and remove as each is done: 10 g of almonds until golden, 15 g of raisins until they puff, 2 tsp of sesame seeds until pale gold, the 1 corn tortilla and the 15 g of bread until crisp and browned, then the 1 piece of canela, 1 clove, 3 peppercorns and 1 pinch of aniseed for 30 seconds until fragrant. Break up the tortilla and bread.