Mexican Mole, Oaxaca style

This mole is a hybrid between a Mole Negro and a Mole Poblano. I was looking for recipes for Mole Negro, but it's hard to find one good one. I feel like there a little to no rules for this, so I made it my own and make it how I like it.

Spices:

• 10 cloves • 10 allspice • 20 black peppercorns • 1 tsp thyme • 3 tbsp oregano • 2 cinnamon sticks • 1 star anise •

Nuts and seeds:

• ½ cup sesame seeds • ½ cup pecans • ½ cup almonds • ½ cup peanuts •

Fruits, vegetables and carbs:

• 1 white onion • 6 garlic cloves • 4 large tomatoes • 10 tomatillos • 1 plantain (or 2 ripe bananas) • 1 cup raisins • 5 plain corn tortillas • 10 Maria biscuits •

Chilies:

(Use the chilies below in amounts you like or other mild (!) Mexican varieties. Make sure you have a total of 75 to 100 gram chilies. Good verities are malutto and chilhuacle negro).

• 25 gram ancho negro • 25 gram Guajillo • 25 gram pasilla negro •

• one bar 80% chocolate • 1 jar mild chipotle sauce • 2 liter chicken stock • cacao to taste •

Chilies:

1. Start with a large skillet and a good layer of vegetable oil. Take the seeds out of the chilies and fry the chilies in batches in the oil. Make sure they get nice and dark, but don't burn. It might be hard to see, so keep a close eye on it.

2. As soon as you fried all the chilies, soak them in hot water for at least 30 minutes. Set aside.

3. The soaked chilies are good to go when they are softened and the water in a reddish brown colour.

4. Get a food processor and puree the chilies into a smooth paste with a little bit of the chili water.

Nuts:

1. Dry roast the sesame seeds until nice and golden.

2. Fry the nuts in a layer of oil until nice and toasted. Scoop out of the pan together with 3 tbsp of the oil.

3. Grind the nuts and seeds until combined into a thick paste.

Spices:

1. Dry roast the spices, except for the thyme and oregano.

2. Grind the herbs and spices super super fine. You can also use a pestle and mortar.

Fruit, vegetables and carbs:

1. Get a super hot skillet and char your onion, garlic, tomatoes and tomatillos in a dry skillet. Make sure they get a nice black char on all sides.

2. Add some oil into the pan and fry the plantain and raisins.

3. Fry the tortillas in the oil, you might add some more oil in between.

4. Fry the Maria biscuits in the oil. Not too long, you don't want them to fall apart.

5. Throw everything in your food processor or blender (you might need to work in batches) and mix until super smooth. Add chicken stock if it gets too thick to run the food processor.

Assembling:

1. Get a large pot (a Dutch oven would be best) and heat up some oil. Re-fry the chili puree in the oil. Watch out, it will be like a volcano eruption. Your kitchen will be a mess after this (if it wasn't already).

2. Add the fruit en vegetable puree, together with the nuts. Stir well and add as much chicken stock as needed (the best consistency to work with it a bit like custard). You can also add some chili water to keep the salt level steady.

3. Add the chocolate and mild chipotle sauce. Stir well.

4. Simmer on low heat for 3 to 4 hours while stirring very regularly. The sauce burns rather quickly on the bottom. Add stock or chili water when the sauce gets too thick.

5. In the end the sauce should be a little too thick. If you want to freeze it, freeze it like this. Before serving you will add extra water or stock to make it the right consistency.

(note: I had to get my sauce through a sift, because my food processor didn't get all the purees nice and smooth. This is not a must, but I wanted my mole to be very silky and smooth. This is completely up to you).

Enchiladas:

1. Poach 3 chicken breast in salted water with and onion and 3 garlic cloves. Poach for 12 minutes.

2. As soon as the chicken is cooked, get on a large plate and start pulling into small strips. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

3. Get an oven tray and stuff you enchiladas with the chicken and cheese.

4. Put in the oven (200°C) for 10 minutes, covered in aluminum foil. You can take the foil off halfway if you like crunchy edges (I personally like soft tortillas).

5. Cook the rice in the chicken water.

6. Get canned black beans and heat up well.

7. Plate everything by first scooping some mole on your plate. Put the enchiladas right on top and add extra mole on top of that. Get some rice and beans and a nice scoop of sour cream. Add some jalapeños for a kick.

Mole isn't a spicy sauce. It's silky and full of flavour. A little bitter, salty, sour and with a hint of spice and cacao. It's perfectly fine to make it a little more sweet if you like and change it the way you like it. Taste and tweak!

In my search for a recipe, I found so many different ones and I realized there isn't really one mole. I think it's like with many dishes, every family has its own version.

After tasting I added a little more chocolate and a scoop of sugar. But this is personal.

I think this recipe is for 12 or 14 portions.

Enjoy!