Making Mole

Have you ever made Chicken Mole Poblano? We did. We have always shied away from making mole as we had heard it was a time-consuming and difficult process to do well. It is time-consuming but when you have a team of four and Anita, our experienced instructor, it is an engrossing project.

One of the activities at the heart of a good mole is the quality of the peppers and the chocolate that you select. We used “Abuelita” chocolate, a Nestle product you can buy in the states with two kinds of chilis, poblano and any hot variety you love. Fry the seeded peppers in about two inches of very hot oil in a frying pan. The chilis puff up and brown to almost black. After they drain and cool, crumble all into a food grinder with peanuts and sesame seeds and grind, grind, grind and grind some more. What results is a dark, pebbled, very piquante base for the mole. Caution: Do not rub your eye while performing this procedure.

Then add a good quantity of sugar to offset the bitterness of the chocolate and create a base with a more fluffy consistency. Put the crumbled mixture back on the stove to melt in a large frying pan to which Anita slowly and painstakingly added chicken broth while stirring, stirring, stirring to keep the sauce from scorching. The consistency of the ground base and the prevention of scorching are two essential keys to producing rich, fully flavored and balanced mole sauce. Anita added the broth in the mole sauce until it was exactly the right consistency. She tested this by dropping a bit on her wrist and tasting it, as would any excellent chef.

Then we ate what we made as a team. Friday is graduation day at Escuela Mexicana. To celebrate we all share the Pollo Mole Poblano with Mexican Rice.

Dana and I brought beer, our beverage of choice, to accompany the meal. And Dana added the perfect fruit tart from a local panaderia.

Delicioso!

The camaraderie of the students and the warmth of the faculty make these events even more special. Here is Ricardo from Ashland, Oregon, Cocoa from New York City, Me (Jilita),our instructor Juan Carlos and Richard from Seattle, Washington who is newly relocated to Guanajuato.