Tortitas de Camaron en Mole Poblano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and shrimp
• •12-inch clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer if the mole is not completely smooth
• •Spice grinder for dried shrimp
• •Wide skillet for frying tortitas

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the ancho, mulato, pasilla, and chipotle meco one at a time, about 15 to 25 seconds per side, just until the skins puff and the smell turns deep and fruity. Do not blacken them. Burned chile makes bitter mole, and no amount of chocolate will save it.

2. 2

   Soak the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 20 minutes. Hot, not boiling. Boiling water roughens the skins and pulls bitterness. Drain the chiles and discard the soaking water unless your chiles are very sweet and clean. Most are not.

3. 3

   Toast the seeds

   On the same comal, toast the sesame seeds until golden, then toast the almonds and peanuts until they smell nutty. Keep everything moving. Toast the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, anise, and coriander for 30 seconds, just enough to wake them up. Puebla's convent cooks understood restraint. Dark spices will bully the mole.

4. 4

   Fry the sweeteners

   Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a heavy pot or clay cazuela over medium. Fry the raisins until they puff, then remove them. Fry the tortilla, bolillo, and plantain until golden at the edges. These are not filler. They give the mole body and that conventual richness people pretend came from chocolate.

5. 5

   Char the vegetables

   Roast the tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, and unpeeled garlic on the comal until blistered and softened. Peel the garlic. The tomatillo keeps the sauce from becoming heavy, the tomato rounds it out, and the onion and garlic give the base somewhere to stand.

6. 6

   Blend the mole

   Blend the soaked chiles with the toasted seeds, nuts, spices, raisins, fried tortilla, bolillo, plantain, roasted vegetables, and 2 cups broth or water. Work in batches. Blend longer than you think. You want a smooth paste, not a gritty sauce. If your blender struggles, add a little more broth. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado: texture tells on the cook.

7. 7

   Fry the mole

   Heat the cazuela over medium and add the blended paste. It will sputter. Stir constantly for 12 to 15 minutes until the paste darkens, thickens, and the oil begins to show at the edges. This is where raw ingredients become mole. Add 3 cups broth or water, lower the heat, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring often so it does not catch on the bottom.

8. 8

   Finish the sauce

   Add the chopped Mexican chocolate and stir until it dissolves. Taste before adding piloncillo. The mole should be deep, gently bitter, a little sweet, and chile-forward. Salt carefully because the shrimp tortitas will bring their own salt. Keep the mole loose enough to coat the fritters without swallowing them.

9. 9

   Cook the nopales

   Put the nopales in a pot with the 1/4 onion, epazote, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and water to cover. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes, until the strips turn olive green and tender but still have bite. Drain and rinse briefly. Remove the onion and epazote. Nopales should taste green, not slimy. Así se hace y punto.

10. 10

    Grind the shrimp

    Pick through the dried shrimp and remove any hard eyes or sharp bits that will not grind cleanly. Toast the shrimp on the comal for 1 to 2 minutes, just until fragrant. Grind them in a spice grinder or blender to a fine powder. Do not add salt to the batter. Dried shrimp already carries the sea and the market with it.

11. 11

    Beat the eggs

    Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until they hold firm peaks. Beat the yolks separately, then fold them into the whites with the shrimp powder and breadcrumbs. Fold gently but completely. The foam is the structure of the tortita. Crush it and you get a heavy little disk. No me vengas con atajos.

12. 12

    Fry the tortitas

    Pour 1/2 inch vegetable oil into a skillet and heat over medium. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the oil and fry 2 to 3 minutes per side, until puffed and golden brown. Drain on a rack or paper towels. The tortitas should be light, salty, and firm enough to survive the mole.

13. 13

    Bathe the cazuela

    Add the cooked nopales to the mole and simmer 5 minutes. Slide in the tortitas and spoon sauce over them gently. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes more, just until the fritters drink some sauce and soften at the edges. Do not stir hard. You are feeding people, not punishing the cazuela.

14. 14

    Serve Puebla style

    Serve from the clay cazuela, with the reserved toasted sesame scattered over the top and warm corn tortillas on the side. Set it on Talavera if you have it. This is Lenten food, but it is not thin food. It is convent food: disciplined, engineered, and generous. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Buy whole dried shrimp from a Mexican market where turnover is high. They should smell clean and briny, not dusty or rancid. If the vendor cannot tell you when they arrived, find another vendor.
• •For a Friday vigil table, use vegetable oil and vegetable broth or water. A fiesta mole poblano may use manteca de cerdo and chicken broth, but this cazuela answers to Cuaresma. The rule shapes the recipe.
• •Do not make the tortitas too large. Spoon-sized fritters hold their shape in the mole. Big ones break apart and turn the sauce cloudy.
• •Mole is not chocolate sauce. The chiles lead: ancho for fruit, mulato for dark sweetness, pasilla for depth, chipotle meco for smoke. Chocolate rounds the edges. It does not drive the cart.
• •If nopales at the market look dry, wrinkled, or woody, do not force the dish. Use clean cooked potatoes for a convent-style variation, but call it a variation. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor deepens overnight, which is why serious cooks do not fear planning.
• •The dried shrimp can be toasted and ground 1 day ahead. Keep the powder covered and refrigerated because the aroma is strong.
• •Cook the nopales up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate them drained. Add them to the mole only when reheating.
• •Fry the tortitas the day you serve. They can rest at room temperature for 1 hour, but they should not sit in the mole all afternoon or they will lose their shape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 475g)