Empanadas de Mole Amarillo con Hoja Santa

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or large heavy skillet
• •Tortilla press or heavy flat-bottomed plate
• •Heavy-duty plastic bag, cut into two squares
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh sieve
• •Heavy 3-quart pot or clay cazuela for the mole
• •Medium stockpot for poaching the chicken

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the chicken

   Place the chicken thighs in a medium pot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add a quarter of the onion, two garlic cloves, the bay leaves, and a tablespoon of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Reduce the heat until the surface barely trembles and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken pulls easily from the bone. Remove the thighs and set aside to cool. Strain the broth and reserve it. You will need about a cup and a half of it for the mole.

   Do not boil the chicken. A rolling boil shreds the meat and clouds the broth. Low and slow. The broth you get from this step is liquid gold for the mole.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   While the chicken poaches, heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Toast the chilcostle and ancho chiles one or two at a time, pressing them flat against the surface with a spatula for about 20 seconds per side. They should puff slightly, turn fragrant, and darken a shade. The chilcostle will release a fruity, slightly smoky smell that tells you the oils are working. Do not let them blacken. Burned chile makes a bitter mole and there is no rescuing it.

   The ancho is thicker and takes a few seconds longer. The chilcostle is thinner and scorches faster. Keep your hand on the spatula and your eyes on the comal.
3. 3

   Soak the chiles

   Transfer the toasted chiles to a heatproof bowl. Cover with hot tap water, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the skin and turns the mole acrid. Let them soak for 20 minutes until the flesh is soft and pliable. Reserve half a cup of the soaking liquid, then drain.

4. 4

   Roast the vegetables

   On the same dry comal, roast the tomatillos, the Roma tomato, the remaining quarter onion, and the two remaining garlic cloves. Turn them occasionally. The tomatillos should soften and get dark blistered spots, about eight to ten minutes. The tomato needs similar time. The onion and garlic will char in spots and go translucent. Let them cool slightly. This roasting is what gives the mole its depth. Raw tomatillos would make it taste green and flat.

5. 5

   Toast the spices

   In a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, toast the cloves, black peppercorns, and cumin seeds for about one minute, shaking the pan, until fragrant. Transfer immediately to a spice grinder or mortar and grind to a fine powder. These three spices are the quiet architecture of mole amarillo. You will not taste them individually, but you will feel their absence if you skip them.

6. 6

   Blend the mole

   Place the soaked chiles, roasted tomatillos, tomato, onion, garlic, and ground spices in a blender. Add about three quarters of a cup of the reserved chicken broth. Blend on high until completely smooth. You want a thick puree with no visible seeds or skin. If the blender struggles, add a splash more broth, just enough to keep things moving. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon. Discard what stays in the sieve.

7. 7

   Cook the mole amarillo

   Heat two tablespoons of lard in a heavy pot or cazuela over medium heat. When the lard shimmers, pour in the strained chile puree all at once. It will sputter. Stir constantly for five to seven minutes as the mole darkens and thickens and the fat begins to separate around the edges. This frying step concentrates the flavor and is not optional. In a small bowl, dissolve the two tablespoons of fresh masa in half a cup of chicken broth, working it smooth with your fingers. Pour this into the mole, stirring constantly. The masa thickens the sauce and gives it that characteristic body, silky and substantial, that holds inside an empanada without running out. Add the two large hoja santa leaves, torn into a few pieces. Simmer on low for ten more minutes. Season with a teaspoon of salt and taste. The mole should be concentrated, aromatic, golden-orange, and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon without dripping. If it is thin, cook it down further. Remove and discard the hoja santa pieces.

   The masa thickener is a signature Oaxacan technique. It is what separates mole amarillo from a simple chile sauce. Dissolve the masa completely before adding it or you will get lumps that no amount of stirring will fix.
8. 8

   Shred and fill

   Pull the cooled chicken from the bones, discarding skin and bone. Shred the meat into thin strips using two forks or your hands. Fold the shredded chicken into the mole amarillo. You want every strand coated. The filling should be moist but not soupy. If it looks wet, cook it over medium heat for another two to three minutes, stirring, until it tightens up. Set aside to cool to warm room temperature. A hot filling will melt the masa when you try to fold it.

9. 9

   Prepare the empanada masa

   Place the two pounds of fresh masa in a large bowl. Add the remaining tablespoon of lard and half a teaspoon of salt. Knead for three to four minutes, working the fat into the masa until it is smooth, pliable, and does not crack at the edges when you press it flat. If the masa feels dry or cracks, add warm chicken broth a tablespoon at a time until it holds together without sticking to your hands. The texture should feel like soft clay. Fresh nixtamalized masa from a tortilleria is what you want. Maseca from a bag will work in a crisis, but the texture will be drier and the flavor thinner. That is the compromise.

   Cover the bowl of masa with a damp cloth while you work. Fresh masa dries out fast and dried-out masa cracks when you fold it. Once it cracks, you cannot fix it.
10. 10

    Shape and fill the empanadas

    Cut a heavy-duty plastic bag (a zip-top bag works) into two squares. Place one square on a tortilla press or your work surface. Take a ball of masa about the size of a large egg, roughly two and a half ounces, and place it in the center. Cover with the second square of plastic. Press flat with the tortilla press or a heavy plate to a round about five inches across and a quarter inch thick. Peel back the top plastic. Lay one hoja santa leaf across one half of the masa round, letting it extend slightly past the edge. Spoon about two tablespoons of the chicken and mole filling onto the hoja santa. Fold the other half of the masa over the filling using the bottom plastic to help you lift and fold without tearing. Press the edges together gently but firmly. Peel away the plastic. The empanada should be a neat half-moon with the hoja santa visible through the masa like a shadow.

    Do not overfill. Two tablespoons of filling feels modest, but the empanada needs room to seal. An overfilled empanada splits open on the comal and you lose the mole. The women in the market fill and fold with one hand. You and I use two hands and the plastic. No shame in it.
11. 11

    Toast on the comal

    Heat a large comal or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Brush the surface lightly with lard or wipe it with a lard-soaked cloth. Lay the empanadas on the comal without crowding, three or four at a time depending on the size of your comal. Cook for four to five minutes on the first side, until the masa turns golden and develops dark toasted spots. Flip carefully with a thin spatula. Cook four to five minutes more on the second side. The finished empanada should be golden on both sides, firm to the touch, with a faint crackle when you press it. The hoja santa leaf will be visible through the masa, dark green against the golden corn. Asi se hace y punto.

12. 12

    Serve warm

    Serve the empanadas warm from the comal, two or three per plate. They need nothing more than what they already have inside them. If you want salsa on the side, make a salsa de pasilla oaxaqueno, the smoky, fruity salsa that every Oaxacan table knows. No crema. No cheese. No lettuce. The empanada is complete. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Chilcostle chiles are the soul of mole amarillo and they are difficult to find outside Oaxaca. If you are in the United States, order them from a Oaxacan specialty vendor online. If you absolutely cannot find them, dried guajillo chiles with one or two chiles anchos will approximate the color, but the flavor will be different. That is a compromise, not an upgrade, and I want you to know what you are missing: the chilcostle has a fruity, slightly smoky character that guajillo does not replicate.
• •Fresh nixtamalized masa from a tortilleria is the right call. If you have a Mexican neighborhood nearby, find the tortilleria and ask for masa para empanadas. They will know what you mean. If your only option is Maseca, hydrate it with warm chicken broth instead of water and add an extra half tablespoon of lard. It will never be the same, but it will be closer.
• •Hoja santa grows easily in warm climates and you may find it at Latin American markets under the names hierba santa, acuyo, or tlanepa. There is no substitute. Dried hoja santa has lost most of what makes it matter. If you cannot find it fresh, make the empanadas without it, but call them empanadas de mole amarillo, not empanadas de mole amarillo con hoja santa. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and the name tells the truth about what is inside.
• •The mole must be thick. Thicker than you think. It should hold on a spoon without dripping. Inside the empanada, a thin mole will soak through the masa and make the bottom fall apart on the comal. If your mole looks loose after adding the masa thickener, cook it down over low heat, stirring often, until it reaches the right consistency. The senoras at the market do not use a thermometer or a timer. They look at the spoon.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole amarillo filling can be made up to two days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor only deepens. Bring it to room temperature before assembling so it does not crack the masa.
• •The chicken can be poached a day ahead. Save the broth. Shred the meat and store it in the broth to keep it moist.
• •Assembled empanadas can be held on a parchment-lined tray, covered with a damp cloth, for up to one hour before cooking. Past one hour the masa dries out and the edges crack.
• •Cooked empanadas reheat well on a dry comal over medium-low heat for two to three minutes per side. Do not microwave them. The masa turns rubbery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 270g)