Having had some delicious mole poblano in a restaurant recently, I undertook the project myself for the first time. It took a little while to find the proper chilies, and it was kind of a long process, but I was pleased with the results, especially for a first effort. Here’s the recipe I used.
1.5 oz. dried ancho
1.5 oz. dried pasilla
1 oz. dried mulato
The chilies were seeded and stemmed, then covered in water with an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, some salt, and about a cup of peeled tomatoes and juice, simmered for half an hour, then pureed.
While this was cooking, I made a paste of
3/4 tsp coriander seed
3/4 tsp anise seed
2 Tbs sesame seed, toasted
1/2 cup blanched almonds
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c raisins
This mixture got added to the pureed chilies along with about 1/2 cup of apple juice and 3/4 oz. unsweetened chocolate. The recipe called for additional vegetable broth to get the consistency right, but this ended up not being necessary. The final result needed some more salt and took probably 1/4 cup of brown sugar to adjust the bitterness of the chilies. That got it to a pretty good balance where the sweetness was barely detectable and the bitterness less dominant.
Dinner last night was mole enchiladas with a filling of zuchinni, corn, caramelized onion, garlic, green chilies, lime and cilantro, all mixed into some goat cheese and sour cream. The different flavors in the filling were somewhat eclipsed by the powerful flavor of the mole, honestly, but it was still delicious.
Anyone else experiment with making mole and have suggestions, different proportions, different ingredients, etc?