MEXICAN
MOLE RECIPE
Traditionally, we always serve it on Thanksgiving over our turkey. We also serve it during Christmas with turkey or with chicken. I come from a large family and when I was growing up my grandmother was always the assigned “Mole” person for the holidays. She was an excellent cook. She would come over our house and bring her mole ingredients of all these mixed spices in a large jar and add the last remaining ingredients while the turkey was cooking in the oven. Unfortunately, my grandmother died of breast cancer and my mom nor any other family member ever thought about asking her for her recipe. I was determined to replicate her delicious mole and after years of trying to make it just like hers, I finally did it. I was so excited to finally get the “thumbs up” from all my family members including my father who is from Mexico. He says it’s the best mole he’s ever had. When I serve it on Thanksgiving it’s called “Meli’s Mole.” In memory of my grandmother.
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Hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends do. It does take time to make but it’s really worth it, you’ll see. The secret is to make it a couple of days before Thanksgiving so you can take care of cooking your turkey on Thanksgiving morning and not worry about your mole. The chili peppers in this recipe can be found in the Mexican section of the grocery store. These chilis are dried and usually come in sealed bags. I always double the recipe and freeze some of it to serve at Christmas or New Years. My two sons’ always have me make them turkey and mole burritos with our left-over turkey so they can take them home, freeze them and enjoy them for longer periods of time.
HOW TO MAKE
INGREDIENTS
1 Plantain banana
1 white onion
½ cup peanut butter
1 can whole tomatoes
4 tablespoons crushed garlic
3 corn tortillas
1 round whole piece of “Abuelita” Mexican chocolate
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup raisins
1 teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon oregano
5 chilis Anchos
4 chilis Mulatos
5 chilis Guajillos
4 chilis Pasillas
2 cups chicken stock
Oil for frying the ingredients
Blender to blend the ingredients
Stock pot
DIRECTIONS
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You will need two large bowls. Take the peppers and remove the stems and seeds. Place all the peppers in one bowl. Next, take your tortillas and cut them into about four large pieces each and put them in the same bowl with the chilis. Do the same with the piece of bread, cut it in about three pieces. Next, peel your onion and cut it into quarters and place the cut onion in the bowl with the chilis/tortillas/bread. Get all the other ingredients listed and place them next to your bowl.
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Next, place a frying pan (I like using my wok) on the stove and add about ¼ cup oil. Let heat a little and take a few items from your bowl and start sautéing /frying them. I like to start with placing two or three peppers first until they are all fried and then next, I do the onion and tortillas. I do the chocolate round last. Just fry until their soft and don’t let them burn. During the process I sometimes have to add a little more oil. Remove the sautéed items and place them in your second empty bowl.
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Next, you need to blend all the sautéed items. I add a little bit of chicken stock to each batch being blended to help the items puree. Pour your pureed items into a large stock pot on the stove and cook on low heat. Cook for about 1 ½- 2 hours and make sure to stir so your mole doesn’t burn. As the mole is cooking you will see that it will turn a darker red color. If it seems to thick, you can add a little more chicken stock but remember it needs to be thick like gravy.
NOTE*
If not serving right away and making this ahead of time, let cool and store in glass containers in the refrigerator. It can also be frozen.
When ready to serve, serve like you do gravy. Our tradition is to have turkey with mole and Spanish rice along with a vegetable. We also serve with flour tortillas instead of rolls.
Yummy! Enjoy and please let me know how your mole came out.
