Mole! (Paste)

Mole (pronounced mo-lay) is one of those recipes that has about one thousand variations (and counting). There are the official types, like mole poblano, mole negro, mole verde, mole rojo, and then all the other moles in every shade of brown imaginable. Ingredients and their quantities vary in nearly every family to account for tastes and preference.

I am partial to this recipe (which falls under no general category of mole) because it is the first one I ever ate and one that I've mastered to make. This recipe comes from the family of my authentic Mexican source, and is loosely related to mole poblano. Naturally, I've made some changes to account for my own preferences (my major contribution being garlic) to make it recipe #1001.

Despite being so delicious (or maybe because it's so delicious), mole is a true hassle to make. There are a lot of ingredients to buy (not all readily available), too many steps to follow, and endless dishes (and various other surfaces) to wash afterwards. (Not to mention, whichever tupperware you store it in will be permanently stained a reddish-brown and become your new official mole container.) That being said, the process is worth the pain. This particular recipe makes two very large batches of mole, of which at least one should be instantly frozen, each batch producing the first mole meal and at least two sets of repurposed leftovers (see future post).

This recipe is for what we refer to as mole paste, which is what freezes so nicely. The next post will explain how to finish it up and make that first mole meal.

Ingredients
100 g chile pasilla
100 g chile mulato
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped
2 ripe plantains (with a blackening peel)
50 g raisins
1 1/2 cup animal crackers
1 tsp. cinnamon (or 1 stick of canela)
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. black pepper
Vegetable oil

Directions

1 - Remove seeds from the dried chiles. Bring a pot of water with the dried chiles to a boil. Reconstitute the chiles, boiling them over high heat for about 20 minutes.

2 - Remove chiles to a blender with enough of the boiling water to blend them into a smooth paste. Set aside.

3 - In a saute pan over low heat with oil, cook the onions until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

4 - In the same pan, add more oil if needed and saute the plantain until soft, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

5 - In the same pan, add more oil if needed and saute the raisins and animal crackers until the raisins are plump and the crackers have taken some color (specifically, a light brown color), about 5 - 10 minutes.

6 - Add cinnamon and cloves. Saute one more minute. Set aside.

7 - In a large bowl, combine all sauteed, set-aside ingredients together. Add black pepper.

8 - In reasonable sized batches (you know the capacities of your blender), blend all of the ingredients. After each batch, pour mixture into a large saute pan over low heat, coated with about a tablespoon of preheated oil.

9 - Once all ingredients are blended, simmer the sauteed mixture and the chile paste for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

10 - At this point, the result is mole paste. Remove half of the mole to a ziploc bag and then to the freezer. Keep the other half simmering, and see the next post....