Mole Coloradito Oaxaqueño con Pollo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch cast iron comal or heavy skillet
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy 6-quart Dutch oven
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh strainer
• •Long wooden spoon for stirring the mole as it fries

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the chicken

   Place the chicken pieces in a large pot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, halved garlic head, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Cook at a lazy bubble for 35 to 40 minutes, until the meat is just tender. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain the broth and reserve. You will need about six cups for the mole. The broth is the spine of the dish. Treat it with respect.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the ancho, guajillo, and chilcostle chiles separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. Press them flat with a spatula. They should puff and turn fragrant, never blacken. The kitchen will smell deep and slightly sweet. That smell is the oils releasing. Move the chiles to a heatproof bowl as they finish.

   The ancho is forgiving. The guajillo burns faster because the skin is thinner. Watch it. Burned chile turns the mole bitter and there is no recovering from it later.
3. 3

   Soak the chiles

   Cover the toasted chiles with hot tap water, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the skin and leaves a bitter edge in the puree. Place a small plate on top to keep them submerged. Soak for 25 minutes, until the flesh is fully soft. Drain and discard the soaking water. The bitterness lives in that water. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Roast the tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, and garlic

   On the same comal, char the tomatoes, tomatillos, quartered onion, and unpeeled garlic cloves. Turn them as they blacken in spots. The tomatoes need 10 to 12 minutes until the skin splits and the flesh slumps. The garlic is done when it gives under finger pressure. Peel the garlic. Leave the charred bits on the tomatoes and onion. Those black spots are flavor, not damage.

5. 5

   Toast the seeds, nuts, and aromatics

   Wipe the comal and lower the heat. Toast the sesame seeds, stirring constantly, until they turn the color of sand and start to pop. Set aside two tablespoons for garnish. Toast the almonds and peanuts until they smell roasted, about three minutes. Toast the cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorns for 30 seconds, just until fragrant. Each ingredient gets toasted alone because each one finishes at its own pace. Treat the comal like a clock with seven hands.

6. 6

   Fry the plantain, tortilla, and bread

   In a small skillet, heat two tablespoons of the lard over medium. Fry the plantain rounds until deeply golden on both sides, about four minutes total. The sugar in the plantain is what gives coloradito its rounded sweetness. Move the plantain aside. In the same fat, fry the day-old tortilla until crisp and the bread slice until golden. Both will thicken the mole and give it body.

   The plantain must be ripe with black-spotted skin. A green plantain will give you a starchy, sour mole. The cooks in Tlacolula will not even start without a properly ripe one.
7. 7

   Blend in batches

   Work in two or three batches. In a blender, combine the soaked chiles, charred tomatoes and tomatillos, charred onion, peeled garlic, toasted sesame, almonds, peanuts, raisins, fried plantain, fried tortilla, fried bread, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, oregano, and thyme. Add a cup of warm chicken broth to each batch and blend on high until completely smooth. Smooth means smooth. The texture of mole coloradito should run off the spoon in a slow ribbon, not in chunks. Strain each batch through a medium-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing on the solids. Discard the skins and grit. This step is not optional. The senoras in Teotitlan will tell you the same thing.

8. 8

   Fry the mole

   In a wide cazuela or heavy Dutch oven, heat the remaining six tablespoons of lard over medium-high until it shimmers. Pour the strained mole base into the hot fat all at once. It will sputter, splatter, and protest. Keep your apron on and a wooden spoon ready. Stir constantly for 15 to 20 minutes as the mole darkens, deepens, and the fat starts to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This frying step is what turns a chile puree into mole. Skip it and you have made a sauce, not a mole.

9. 9

   Build the simmer

   Add four cups of the reserved chicken broth to the cazuela, stirring as you pour. The mole should loosen to the consistency of heavy cream. Lower the heat. Add the chopped Oaxacan chocolate and the sugar. Stir until the chocolate melts in completely. Coloradito is not a chocolate mole. The chocolate rounds the chile and binds the spices. You should not taste cocoa. You should taste depth. Simmer uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often so the bottom does not catch. Add more broth if it tightens too much.

10. 10

    Finish with the chicken

    Taste the mole. It should be rich, slightly sweet, faintly smoky, with a long warm chile finish. Adjust salt. Adjust sugar. A coloradito that is too sharp wants a pinch more sugar. One that is flat wants salt. Slip the cooked chicken pieces into the mole, spooning the sauce over each one. Simmer gently for 15 minutes more, just enough for the chicken to drink in the mole. Do not boil. Do not stir aggressively. The chicken is already cooked. You are marrying it to the sauce.

11. 11

    Serve

    Spoon the chicken pieces into shallow clay plates with a generous ladle of mole over each. Scatter the reserved toasted sesame seeds on top. Serve with white rice and a tall stack of warm corn tortillas. In Oaxaca, you eat mole with tortillas, tearing pieces to scoop the sauce. The fork is for the chicken. The tortilla is for the mole. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •If you cannot find Oaxacan chocolate de mesa, do not substitute baking chocolate or chocolate chips. Look for Mayordomo or La Soledad in a Mexican grocery, or use Ibarra as a compromise. The cinnamon and sugar already in the disk are part of the recipe. Plain chocolate will throw the balance off.
• •Strain the mole through a medium-mesh sieve, not a fine one. Fine-mesh strains out so much that you lose body. Medium-mesh keeps the texture senoras in Oaxaca expect: smooth on the tongue, with weight behind it.
• •Mole tastes better the second day. Make the sauce a day ahead, refrigerate it, and finish with the chicken on serving day. The chiles, spices, and chocolate need overnight to come together. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, and a good cook plans backwards from the meal.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole base can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor only deepens. Reheat gently with extra chicken broth to loosen before adding the chicken.
• •The strained mole freezes well for up to three months. Freeze in flat portions in zip-top bags so it thaws quickly.
• •The chicken should be poached the day you serve so it stays tender. Reheating poached chicken twice will dry it out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 325g)