Pipián Verde de Pepita

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart cazuela or wide-bottomed pot
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting the pepitas
• •High-powered blender (a weak blender will leave grainy pipián)
• •Fine-mesh strainer for the broth
• •Wooden spoon long enough to stir without burning your hand

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the chicken

   Place the chicken pieces in a large pot with the whole half onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, salt, and 8 cups of cold water. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Lower the heat and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is tender and the broth tastes like something. Cold water start, lazy simmer. A rolling boil clouds the broth and toughens the meat.

   You are making two things at once: poached chicken and the broth that thins the pipián. Do not skip the bones and skin. They are the body of the sauce.
2. 2

   Toast the pepitas

   While the chicken simmers, heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-low. Add the pepitas in a single layer. Stir constantly. They will start to puff and pop within two or three minutes, turning from flat green to plump pale gold. Pull them off the heat the second they smell nutty and toasted. Burned pepitas turn the pipián brown and bitter. There is no recovering from it. Toast the sesame seeds the same way in a separate batch, about a minute, until they are golden.

   Stay at the stove. Do not check your phone. The pepitas go from perfect to ruined in fifteen seconds.
3. 3

   Cook the tomatillos and chiles

   In a separate pot, place the tomatillos, serranos, and poblano with enough water to cover. Simmer over medium for 8 to 10 minutes, until the tomatillos turn from bright green to a duller olive and feel soft when pressed. Drain. Do not boil them to mush. They should hold their shape when you lift one out with a spoon. Overcooked tomatillos taste flat and the sauce loses its bright edge.

4. 4

   Lift the chicken and reserve the broth

   When the chicken is tender, remove the pieces with tongs and set aside on a plate. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the spent aromatics. You need about 5 cups of broth for the sauce. Keep the rest for tomorrow's rice.

5. 5

   Blend the green base

   Into a blender, add the cooked tomatillos and chiles, the chopped half of the raw onion, the 3 peeled garlic cloves, cilantro, hoja santa, epazote leaves stripped from the stem, and torn romaine. Add 1 cup of the warm chicken broth. Blend on high until completely smooth and bright green. Pour into a bowl. The romaine and hoja santa are what keep the color green after the sauce cooks. Without them, the pipián turns gray within the hour.

6. 6

   Blend the pepita base

   Into the same blender (no need to wash it), add the toasted pepitas, the toasted sesame seeds, and 2 cups of warm chicken broth. Blend on high for two full minutes. You want a thick, smooth paste. Pepitas are stubborn. If you stop blending too soon, the sauce will be grainy on the tongue. Two minutes, minimum.

7. 7

   Fry the pepita paste

   In a wide cazuela or heavy pot, melt the lard over medium heat. La manteca es el sabor, and pipián verde without lard tastes like a smoothie. Pour in the pepita paste. It will sputter aggressively. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon for 5 to 7 minutes, until the paste darkens slightly and you can smell the toasted seeds deepening. The cumin, if you are using it, goes in here. Some cooks from Puebla use it, some refuse it. My mother's notebook says yes, a small spoonful, but the choice is yours.

8. 8

   Marry the two sauces

   Pour the green tomatillo blend into the pot with the pepita paste. Stir together over medium heat. Add another 1 to 2 cups of warm broth to thin it. The pipián should coat the back of a spoon but drip off easily. Not too thick. The Poblana version is looser than mole poblano, more like a thick soup than a heavy paste. Simmer gently, stirring often so the bottom does not catch, for 15 minutes. Taste for salt.

   Do not let it boil hard. The pepitas will break and release their oil and the sauce will split. A lazy simmer, stirred often. If you see the oil starting to bead on top, that is the sign you are doing it right. The Poblana señoras call that 'el aceite que indica que ya está.'
9. 9

   Finish with the chicken

   Slide the chicken pieces back into the sauce. Spoon some of the pipián over the top. Simmer gently for 10 more minutes, until the chicken is warmed through and has taken on the green of the sauce. The natural oil from the pepitas should be beading lightly on the surface. That is the sign the sauce is finished and the seed has given everything it can. Pull from the heat.

10. 10

    Serve in the cazuela

    Bring the pot to the table or ladle into shallow bowls. Scatter a few toasted pumpkin seeds across the top. Warm corn tortillas alongside, lime wedges for whoever wants one. Pipián verde is eaten with tortillas, not bread, not rice on top. You tear a tortilla, you scoop, you eat. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your pepitas raw and unsalted from a Mexican grocery or a bulk-bin store with high turnover. Pre-toasted pepitas from the snack aisle are too dark and will give you a brown sauce. If the only pepitas you can find are roasted and salted, this is not your week to make pipián. Wait until you find raw ones.
• •Hoja santa is non-negotiable for the Poblana version. It tastes like sassafras and anise and there is no real substitute. Latin markets in cities with Mexican populations carry it fresh or frozen. If you absolutely cannot find it, leave it out rather than substituting fennel or anise. A pipián without hoja santa is honest. A pipián with fennel is wrong.
• •The cumin question divides Poblana kitchens. Some say yes, a small pinch, for warmth. Some say it is a Tex-Mex contamination that has crept into the recipe. My mother's notebook says yes, the señora from El Carmen says no. Cook it once each way and decide for your own table.
• •Pipián splits if you boil it. If you see the green sauce separating with a slick of dark oil, you have gone too hot. Pull it off the heat, add a splash of cold broth, and whisk hard. You can sometimes save it. You can never save a burned pepita.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken can be poached one day ahead and held in its broth in the refrigerator. Strain and reheat gently before adding to the finished sauce.
• •The pepitas and sesame can be toasted one day ahead and stored in an airtight container. Do not blend them ahead of time. Ground pepita paste oxidizes within hours and the flavor flattens.
• •Pipián verde is best eaten the day it is made. It can be refrigerated for two days and reheated gently, but the green color will dull and the texture loosens. Do not freeze it. The pepita binding breaks on thaw and the sauce turns watery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 415g)