That looks lovely! And congrats on pulling together a sauce that you really like! Mole (no accent mark) just means sauce, and you made a great sauce. Since you wondered about "traditional", no, this kind of sauce takes a long time to develop. Does it matter? Of course not!

I think I got this recipe in the forum a long time ago, but can't find a post with it. It comes up elsewhere when googling. :) I offer it mostly to prove that no matter the "traditionality", your good sauce in an hour has much to recommend it. :)

Mole Negro

Soledad Lopez

Ingredients

* 1 pound ancho chiles

* 1/2 pound guajillo or dried mirasol chile

* 1/2 pound dried cascabel chile, or rattle chile

* 2 pounds tomatoes, chopped

* 1 pound Mexican green tomato or tomatillo, chopped

* Corn oil

* 1 telera roll or 4 slices white bread

* 1 cinnamon stick

* 4 to 5 cloves

* 4 to 5 whole peppercorns

* 1 sprig fresh thyme

* 1 pinch cumin

* 1/2 cup sesame seeds

* 1/2 cup shelled peanuts

* 1/2 cup blanched almonds

* 1/2 cup small raisins

* 1 1/2 plantains, chopped

* 1/2 cup walnuts

* 1 small onion, roasted, then chopped

* 1 small garlic clove, roasted, then minced

* 1 corn tortilla

* 1 piece unsweetened chocolate square, Mexican chocolate is preferred

* 1/2 cup chicken stock, plus 2 1/2 cups

* 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Directions

Toast ancho, guajillo, and cascabel chiles in a heavy skillet until skins blister. Remove from skillet and stem, seed, and devein chiles. Set aside.

Place tomatoes and green tomatoes in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Drain and blend in blender or food processor and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat corn oil over low flame. Cut the telera bread or 4 slices of white bread, into pieces and fry in the corn oil until golden brown. Add cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, thyme, cumin, sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds, raisins, plantains, and walnuts. Stir ingredients together. Add more corn oil, to coat ingredients lightly. Add chopped roasted onion and minced roasted garlic. Continue to fry over low flame for about 20 minutes. Add blended tomato mixture. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place corn tortilla over open flame and cook until burnt and crispy. Cut up and set aside.

In a medium frying pan, fry roasted chiles in corn oil along with burnt tortilla pieces for a few minutes. Combine tomato/spice/nut mixture with chile mixture in large saucepan. Add chocolate piece and cook until melted over a low flame. Add about 1/2 cup chicken stock to mixture and stir. Place mixture into blender or food processor and puree until all ingredients have combined completely. More chicken stock may be added to smooth out sauce.

In a large saucepan, heat vegetable shortening. Cook the puree in the shortening, stirring constantly. Add more of the chicken stock until you achieve the right level of consistency that you'd like. Warm sauce for another 30 minutes over a low flame.

Annie you did good! I'm intrigued, now that you've made it.

I've seen mole mentioned but have never had it. Plllog's recipe is obviously more traditional.......ingredients I'd never find here, plus the length of time.

Ah, you made it!

All mole is traditional. It is all about what ingredients are available. The basic 10-15 are in every pantry/grocery. An international section/market does help.

In solidarity to mole lovers I'll repost mine that I made last 5th of May. I was inspired by Pati's Mexican Table. They ran a marathon of her shows the week before. I made enough for 5 meals and just took a pint out of the freezer for tonight. (so thanks for todays meal plan!)

Pati Jinich recipe HERE

Substitutions are fine. I don't stock raisins so I used dates. I always have a variety of nuts. (don't care for walnuts but most mole recipes do not use them).

Mine also did not come out overly spicy, just rich as it should be. I'll quick pickle some hot peppers for the table.

Yeah. I'd be likely to use pecans instead of walnuts, but it depends on your local produce. (We have both...)

Annie, your pix really do look good. I'd like to sample some. I have to be honest...I've had (but never made) mole several times and never really liked it. We have friends that tried to convince me I'd change my mind once I had the "real deal." Well, that never worked, and we have some pretty good Mexican fare here in SoCal. It's the same with tamales, but that's more of a texture issue with me than flavor. I do love Mexican food, and we have it at least once a week.

I saw that CI's Mexican Favorites issue the other day at Sam's Club. I bought one some years ago but it's probably different. I know sometimes they tend to repeat.

I don’t even know if I’ve ever had mole sauce aside from the Dona Maria that Jessyf sent me to make riverrat’s chili, but seeing recipes for homemade always makes me think of triciae. Enough name-dropping from the good old days? ;)

ETA - just realized I never commented on the meal - looks delicious for sure!

That's it! FOAS, it was a slightly different mole from Tricia that I was thinking of.

Chloebud, if the chocolate tastes like chocolate, you still haven't had a good mole negro. The topnote should be fruity, and the back should be spices and heat. The chocolate should give it earthiness and distinctiveness, but never chocolateness. Just sayin'. If that sounds right like what you've had and you don't like it, I believe you. Nothing can be done about the texture of tamales. Do you also dislike grits and polenta? If you like them, you might like homemade tamales made by the right abuela. You might try Salvadoran, which tend to have a creamier texture.

Plllog, I don't know what it is, I just have to put that mark, LOL, because otherwise it looks to me like I've cooked a mole, as in that small furry blind creature from the lawn! Plus, Houzz won't let me go back and correct it, so it's there for posterity...

chloebud, I'm not a fan of tamales either, and you're right, it's the texture, it's too much like mush for me.

This mole had a lot of ingredients, and called for almonds instead of walnuts or pecans, and did not taste of chocolate at all, nor like the raisins I put in it. It also had cinnamon, cumin, coriander, oregano and thyme. I had fresh oregano and thyme and so I used that. It also called for 8 dried anchos, a tablespoon of chipotle peppers in adobo and some cayenne, which was enough to scare me but turned out to not be too spicy at all. I was surprised by the addition of sesame seeds. The anchos were just heated on a baking sheet and puffed right up nicely so that I could remove the seeds and stems and tear them into pieces for soaking.

The sauce took about an hour, and another 45 minutes for the chicken to cook, so total was nearly 2 hours, but still not all that long for something that gives you extra for the freezer.

Sleevendog, I like having that extra for the freezer, for those times when I just can't think of what would be good for supper. That happens a lot during gardening/canning season, somehow!

FOAS, it makes me nostalgic, all that name dropping.....

Jasdip, now it's your turn. (grin)

Actually, the differences in the recipe ingredients are minimal. Mine had only anchos, and didn't call for tomatillos, guajillos, cascabels, plaintains or peanuts but contained many of the same seasonings and thickeners. It was mostly the technique that was different, using the food processor for chopping/mixing ingredients and using the oven to toast the peppers.

Annie

Cool! So it was pretty traditional after all. :) As Sleevendog said, the exact ingredients vary. Not that any of it matters since it was so good. Believe me, I'm all for the FP when it's advantageous (not for hummus or guacamole, but I know you understand about textures. :) ). I love putting the almond flour stuff I've been making in the FP rather than sifting.

Would italics make it look better (not in the past, but in the future?) ? It's MOHlay, not mohLAY.

I'm going to make a point to bring some of my chocolate Habanero sauce with me when I go to visit you! I know you won't like it, but maybe Elery will, and if you dilute it enough, you might like it in some dishes. A couple of drops will go a long way and add an interesting smoky, earthy flavor.

Anyway, I am very excited to visit you! This trip is less than a week away now, and so I have to get myself organized. Kevin is looking forward to some down time in Michigan, as work has been stressful for him lately. One of his employees has been manic lately and even came by to see him here (after I had gone to sleep and didn't realize it). I think she has been on Prozac (or something similar), and when she stopped taking it, she became suicidal, and so it's been a bit drastic for Kevin, who has trying to help her through this crisis. We hope she will be sufficiently recovered before we leave, but I just found out about this today. I might have been able to help him with her if I had known. I was out of touch with what was going on with him at work last week, as I was in Cathedral City meeting with contractors. After we get back from our trip to Michigan and Philadelphia, our sister will come to visit us, about four days after we get back, and we will then take her to Cathedral City to see our new house there. We'll tell you more about this when we see you.

Too bad other Michigan people will not be able to see us when we visit you, but I understand about circumstances. My best friends in Philadelphia will not be in town when we will be there, and so I'll be on my own while I am there while Kevin is attending the ostomy convention. I'll spend one day taking the train to northern New Jersey from Philadelphia to meet a penpal I had when I was a teenager. That should be a very interesting experience, since we have never met. She was a member of the Del Shannon fan club when I was president. We've talked on the phone a lot, and we felt like long lost friends when she reconnected with me. She had even saved some of the letters that I had written her when I was 15! She sent one of them to me, and it was rather hysterical for me to read. It sounded rather silly, but I know I was serious when I wrote it! I think I must have been a rather silly or ditzy teenager, and I'm not sure whether I've grown out of that or not.

I'm very much looking forward to meeting Amanda and the rest of your family. I feel confident that they will be able to handle my somewhat quirky personality, especially since you and I have already met.

plllog, I really just think it's me with even good mole. I do remember too much chocolate-ness the very first time I ever had mole. However, I've had what other versions considered 'the best' since then and still didn't like it. Still willing to try more. Tamales...nope...and I've definitely had them homemade by mothers, grandmothers great aunts, etc. I used to work with a guy who promised me I would like his mom's tamales. He brought some to work one day... :-(

Annie, yes...it's the mush thing. :-)

Lars, you will be near Del Shannon's home town when you visit Annie. It's Coopersville, Michigan....a very small rural town. There is a monument to him there and a summer festival each year....although it may be moving to a larger nearby town this year.

My husband and I ate at a small downtown restaurant when we were in the area a few years ago. No mole that I remember or any other memorable food. The one block long downtown had little going on and many empty storefronts. We felt like our purchase at the restaurant may have actually mattered to their bottom line. Usually I don't think my purchases have much effect on the places I eat or shop.

Please, Annie, don't eat any ground moles! LOL

I've grown pasilla bajio peppers in the past which are listed as traditional peppers for mole. But I never made any sauce with them. They just got cut up and added to chili, etc. Your meal looks great!.

Lars, I'm excited too!

Naturegirl, you just reminded me that I've been to Coopersville, we took the grandkids on the train from Coopersville to Marne one Halloween. Maybe Lars would enjoy at least seeing that, I still have a picture of Del Shannon's monument too, I had forgotten that Lars was president of the fan club clear back then! And now I have "run, run, run, runaway" in my head. (grin)

Want to meet us for lunch?

Annie

Love Love Mole....never made it from scratch but have had it in restaurants and have a jar of the dona Ana stuff right now.
And I love tamales.....the best tamale I ever had was on the Santo Domingo reservation in New Mexico at the Green Corn Festival years ago.....bought from a cooler on the reservation.
The corn was very coarsely ground almost like Israli Cuscus.....and the shredded meat was sparse and mixed in with the corn....not a corn meal thing aroound a meat filling.....and it was HOT....very VERY HOT. I nibbled on that half the day!

How long will mole sauce keep in the freezer? Would you do the ice cube tray thing?

I'd like to make some. Good mole sauce is not at all common in Portland. Same with good Mexican restaurants.

"She was a member of the Del Shannon fan club when I was president. "

Lars, just wanted to say I was a fan of his as a kid in MIchigan. Runaway, Hats off to Larry, Little Town Flirt, Hey Little Girl...loved them all. In 1990 I was working for a bank here in SoCal. They had scheduled Del Shannon to perform at a promotional event when the news of his death came. Such a shame.

Annie, lunch sounds fun but it might be too far away. I'm not sure just how "north" you are. I'm southeast of Grand Rapids. I'm also not sure how to contact people through GW.

Naturegirl, I'm about 50 miles north of Grand Rapids. You can send me an email at annie1992 at yahoo dot com.

John, Cook's Illustrated says it will keep up to 3 months in the freezer. I didn't freeze in ice cube trays, I just dumped it into a quart canning jar, made sure I gave myself a couple of inches of headspace for expansion and added a lid. It's sitting in there next to my last pint of AnnT's green enchilada sauce, I'm waiting for tomatillos to make more of that.

Good Mexican food isn't all that common here either. When I lived in White Cloud it was more of a farming community and there were migrant workers. Some stayed, went to work in restaurants, etc., and little Hispanic cafes popped up here and there, as well as groceries. Now, only 30 miles away, the big employer is the college and the closest to Mexican food is Taco Bell. I find that odd, since we have a Mediterranean restaurant and a sushi place....

Annie

I see Coopersville is not far from Grand Rapids, which is where we will be flying to on Sunday. It would be nice to visit there. When I was president of the Del Shannon fan club, I used to talk with him on the phone every couple of months to get interviews for the club bulletins that I published. He sent me Christmas cards each year also.

I'm frantically working on my Cathedral City projects right now and may have to move to the desert for a couple of weeks after we get back. I ordered all the bathroom fixtures today, and I still have to pick out vanity lights for both bathrooms. The pool guy is already scheduled to come and replaster the pool starting August 16, and I really do not want to have to stay there without a functioning pool. I think he said it would be about ten days before I could start using it again, and the bathroom renovations might be going on during that time. I want pool and bathrooms finished by September 6, if possible.

Annie, let me know if there is anything you would like for me to bring from California. So far, the white sapotes have been a bit disappointing in that they do not have that much flavor. I might bring one or two anyway.

There is sweet mole and savory mole, right?

Which is preferred, more traditional, less common?

John, mine is definitely savory, although it does have raisins in it. So would sweet mole also be used for meat, or for something else.

Lars, I do hope that Kevin's friend feels better and that the contractors work quickly while you are here, so things will be finished when you get back. I can't think of anything that you need to bring along, as Elery's grandsons each visited from California this summer also. We have our own Trader Joe's in Grand Rapids now. Elery would love to try your habanero hot sauce, though, he's currently been dousing everything with some ghost pepper concoction.

I've been working hard trying to get everything caught up before you get here. Tonight I canned 13 quarts of beans and 8 pints of pickled bok choi stems, an experiment. We will be getting baby chicks while you are here and I'm sure there will be garden chores that I'll need to tend to, and I have to take Bud to his neurologist on the 5th of August and I think you leave for Philadelphia on the 6th. I've cleared my calendar as much as possible while you are here, though, so we'll have time to do some exploring. I still have to get word from lpinkmountain as to when she will be free also, as she will be in my area during your visit, we just have to coordinate a time.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing you both again. Coopersville is not very far away, and although there isn't much to do there, Grand Rapids is relatively close and there are lots of things there. And, of course, we need some time to cook together!

Annie

I think Elery will like my chocolate Habanero sauce, but I'm a bit stingy with it because I did not have a large crop. Still I can sometimes find chocolate Habanero chilies in the farmers' markets here and buy them whenever I do. I only have one chocolate Habanero plant that is thriving at the moment, and fortunately, my neighbors will be taking care of my plants while we are gone, since it will be two weeks.

Grand Rapids might be fun - I know nothing about it, but then I know very little about Michigan either!

It's nice that Elery and Kevin are very compatible, although when they spent time together in Laguna Beach, both of them were rather quiet - at least compared to the rest of us.

I think it will be great fun to cook with you, as we have never done this before, and whatever you come up with for us to do will be a great experience for me. I'm especially happy to be able to see you again.

I had sweet mole tonight, on pulled pork in quite a good Mexican restaurant in Berkeley. It was good but I feel savory would have suited better.

How exciting for annie and lars to cook together. We will need pictures!

Oh it IS exciting, and I'll definitely post pictures. Lpinkmountain may join us, if family responsibilities allow, and I've also been in touch with Naturegirl, who would like to meet us and I've not met her, so that's also exciting. I've emailed both of them to try to nail down a day when they can either just meet us here at the farm or go somewhere for lunch and adventure.

Lars, I'm sure Elery would very much appreciate your hot sauce and you can try some of mine too. You guys can have your very own tasting and I'll just trust your judgment. (grin) Even if you don't make it all the way to the U.P., I still hope you and Kevin at least make it as far North as Mackinac Island. Although it's very "touristy" now, it's still beautiful and interesting and historic. I also would like to take you to Traverse City, the "Crown Jewel" of Michigan, and let you and Kevin do the winery tours, the Peninsula is astonishingly beautiful and I'm the world's best designated driver. South to Saugatuck for the "art scene" too, and cooking in between! Kevin and Elery can just eat and laugh at us. They are both pretty quiet, but I'm also glad they get along well. Lpink's husband is also a little quiet but a very nice man, so if he's with her I'm sure Kevin would like him also. I don't think all three of them together make as much noise as I do, though, LOL.

I may have to do a little canning while you are here, though, as I don't think my garden is going to slow down while I visit...

Meanwhile I've made AnnT's scones, they are waiting in the freezer for baking, and I just finished running the dough for pappardelle through the Atlas. I bought fresh local oyster mushrooms today at the farmer's market, as well as some sockeye salmon. I just need to mix up some spices for chicken chorizo to go in the shakshuka...

Annie

I think the accent is acceptable. Mòle. Or it my be English acceptable. The vowel accent is used in Spanish language but not for Mole. They have other words for the beauty mark 'mole' or the animal. They use the accent for a word that has two meanings or has a different stress on a part of the word.

I only bring this up because I passed a restaurant in the west village last week. I see the accent over the 'o' all the time. MOE-lay.

Is it a restaurant serving Mexican sauces? If so, the accent may be there just to show people that it's supposed to be MOH-lay, rather than moh-LAY. I used to be fairly fluent in Mexican Spanish, including grammar and spelling, though Argentines always made me feel lost (the Argentines I know also admit that their language isn't completely Spanish). The one that tripped me up, however, was a favorite condiment that misspelled habanero on the label (with an ñ). I had thought (and turned out to be right) that it meant from Havana, but it didn't occur to me that the label was wrong, so I was saying "habañero" for a time....

I have Tricia's recipe and some of the ingredients but I've never braved it. I should send you my dried anchos Annie! If I can find where I stored them . . .