Almendrado Oaxaqueño con Pollo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy 5-quart pot
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh strainer
• •Wooden spoon for frying the mole

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the chicken

   Place the chicken pieces in a wide pot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Cook at the lowest possible bubble for 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through but still tender. Lift the pieces out and set them aside. Strain the broth and reserve four cups. You will need it to build the mole.

   A chicken poached at a rolling boil turns stringy. Keep the heat low. The broth is half the dish.
2. 2

   Toast the chile ancho

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Open each ancho flat and press it onto the comal for about 15 seconds per side. The skin will puff and the kitchen will smell like dried fruit and tobacco. Do not let it blacken. Burned ancho is bitter and there is no recovering from it. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cover with hot tap water, not boiling. Let it soften for 20 minutes.

3. 3

   Toast the almonds and aromatics

   On the same comal, toast the whole almonds with their skins on, stirring constantly, for about five minutes, until they smell like the inside of a panaderia and the skins darken. Set aside. Toast the sesame seeds in a small dry pan for one minute, until pale gold, and reserve them for the garnish. Char the tomatoes, the quartered onion, and the four reserved garlic cloves directly on the comal until blackened in patches and softened, about ten minutes. The char is the seasoning. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Bloom the spices and fry the bread

   In a small dry skillet over low heat, toast the cloves, peppercorns, and canela for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Pull them out before they smoke. In the same skillet, melt one tablespoon of the lard and fry the bread slices on both sides until deep golden. The bread thickens the mole and gives it the rounded body that almendrado is known for. Skip the bread and the sauce will run thin.

5. 5

   Build the paste

   Drain the soaked ancho. In a high-powered blender, combine the ancho, the toasted whole almonds, the raisins, the charred tomatoes, onion, and garlic, the bloomed spices, the fried bread broken into pieces, and one and a half cups of the reserved chicken broth. Blend on high for at least three minutes, until completely smooth. The paste should be the color of wet adobe and should coat the back of a spoon. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve, pressing on the solids. Discard the bits that do not go through.

   Almendrado lives or dies on its silkiness. If your blender struggles, blend in two batches. A grainy almendrado is a failed almendrado.
6. 6

   Fry the mole

   Melt the remaining three tablespoons of lard in a wide cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. La manteca es el sabor. When it shimmers, pour in the strained paste. It will sputter. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon for about ten minutes. The paste will darken half a shade and the fat will start to separate around the edges. That separation is the signal that the mole is ready to take the broth.

7. 7

   Loosen with broth and simmer

   Pour in the remaining two and a half cups of reserved chicken broth, whisking as you go. The mole should thicken slowly and coat the spoon without sliding off. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer uncovered for 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes so the bottom does not catch. Taste for salt. Almendrado is mild and slightly sweet on purpose. It is not chile-forward. It is not chocolate. It is not picante. This is the eighth mole and it is restrained on purpose.

8. 8

   Finish and serve

   Slide the cooked chicken pieces back into the cazuela, spooning the mole over them so each piece is coated. Simmer together for ten more minutes so the chicken takes on the sauce. Meanwhile, toast the blanched almonds in a dry pan and slice them lengthwise into slivers. Serve the chicken in shallow bowls or on a clay platter, ladle generous mole over the top, and scatter the toasted almond slivers and sesame seeds across the surface. Bring warm tortillas and white rice to the table. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Toast the almonds with the skins on. Blanched almonds give a paler, blander mole and lose the slight tannic edge that balances the raisins. Doña Eufemia would catch you if you tried to skip this.
• •Use Mexican canela, the soft, flaky kind. Cassia cinnamon from a supermarket is harder, hotter, and will dominate the sauce. If you can only find cassia, halve the amount.
• •Almendrado is supposed to be mild. Do not add a second chile to make it 'more Mexican.' Restraint is the recipe. If you want a hotter mole, make rojo or negro. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and within Oaxaca, cada mole su propio carácter.
• •The mole reheats beautifully and improves on day two. If anything, make it the day before and rewarm it gently with a splash of broth before serving.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole base can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor deepens and the almonds settle into the sauce. Reheat gently with a splash of chicken broth to loosen.
• •Almendrado freezes well for up to two months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat slowly so the sauce does not break.
• •The chicken can be poached one day ahead and held in the broth. Reheat in the finished mole.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)