Mexican Mole – A Mexican Phenomenon

By Franz Scheurer

Mole is a Mexican sauce, using chillies, lots of different spices and sometimes chocolate and plantains (cooking bananas). The word ‘mole’ comes from the native Nahuati ‘molli’ meaning sauce, stew or mixture. It is used for many different types of sauces using many different ingredients and different types of chillies. The most well known variant is probably the Mole Poblano and most moles originate from the states of Puebla and Oaxaca in Mexico.

Here are some well-known types of mole:

Mole Amarillo

Mole Amarillo uses Ancho, Costeño, and Chilcoxle or Guajillo chillies, green tomatoes and tomatillos, onions, garlic, cloves, cumin, black pepper, coriander, and hoja santa (Mexican aromatic heart-shaped leaf) or pitiona (Native Oaxaca vine).

Mole de Cacahuate

Mole de Cacahuete is less popular and made from ground, raw peanuts and chillies, typically served with poultry.

Mole Chichilo

Mole Chichilo is also one of the less common moles, with an interesting ash flavour. It contains Chilguacle Negro, Mulatto, and Pasilla chillies, tomatillos and tomatoes, cloves, black pepper, and corn dough and avocado leaves, which add a hint of anise.

Mole Coloradito

Mole Coloradito has a brick red colour and is the least complex. It uses Ancho and Padilla or Guajillo chillies, almonds, sesame seeds, tomatoes, garlic, oregano, cinnamon, and white sugar.

Mole Mancha Manteles

Mole Mancha Manteles is made from chicken stock and Ancho chillies, then reduced to a thick, gelatinous sauce and has a strong Ancho chilli flavour and is often used to dress plantains (cooking bananas) and pineapple.

Mole Negro

Mole Negro is the most difficult to prepare, and therefore the most famous. Traditionally, black mole has six different kinds of chilli peppers, Chilguacle Negro, Mulatto, Pasilla, Ancho, Guajillo, and Chilpotle chillies. The ingredient list is very long (you could call it the Ras el Hanut of moles), featuring varied seeds, nuts, spices, herbs, and dark chocolate.

Mole Blanco

Less popular, Mole Blanco is made from chilli powder, white raisins, white chocolate, sesame seeds, almonds, and white sesame seeds. It is important that the mole remains really white and it’s generally served with poultry.

Mole Poblano

Mole Poblano’s name comes from the Mexican state of Puebla, and it is a popular sauce in Mexican cuisine and is the mole that most people associate with mole. Mole Poblano is prepared with dried chillies (commonly Ancho, Pasilla, Mulato and Chipotle chillies), ground nuts (not groundnuts!) and seeds (almonds, indigenous peanuts, and sesame seeds), spices, Mexican chocolate (cacao ground with sugar and cinnamon and occasionally nuts), salt, and a variety of other ingredients including charred avocado leaves, onions, and garlic. Dried herbs such as ground oregano are also used. In order to provide a rich thickness to the sauce, breadcrumbs or crackers are added to the mix.

Mole Rojo

Mole Rojo is lighter red and spicier than Coloradito. It uses Ancho and Guajillo chillies, onion, tomatoes, pecans, peanuts, sesame, garlic, oregano, and chocolate.

Mole Verde

Mole Verde achieves its distinctive green colour from the toasted pumpkin seeds that form the sauce's base as well as using ingredients such as Romaine lettuce, coriander, epazote (Mexican herb), and tomatillos (green tomatoes)

If you’re into mole and happen to be in Mexico then there is a Mole Festival every year in October, in Actopan, Edo de México, where you can taste and learn about many different Mole.

Mark Miller and George Francisco were probably the first ones to bring mole to Australians’ attention and I had a terrific mole in a place called ‘The Great Burrito’ in New York. So I decided to spend a few days and come up with my own recipe for mole, and I must say it’s very good J

Here it is:

Mole

By Franz Scheurer

Ingredients:

4 tbs Extra virgin olive oil

3 small, finely chopped brown onions

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tin of Roma tomatoes

4 tomatillos, chopped

100ml chicken stock (keep another 200ml in reserve)

2 Ancho chillies, soaked, strained and finely chopped

2 Mulatto chillies, soaked, strained and finely chopped

1 Cascabel chillies, soaked, strained and finely chopped

1 tin Herdez Salsa Ranchera Mexicana

1 Fresh bird’s eye chilli (with seeds), finely chopped

2 tbs Flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 tsp coriander seeds, ground

2 cloves

1 tsp Castor sugar

1 tsp Dried oregano

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp golden sesame seeds, toasted

2 Charred avocado leaves, torn (or a small stick of liquorice wood if you can’t get avocado leaves – but remove before service)

1 tsp Freshly ground cumin

4 Bay leaves

30g dark, bitter chocolate

20g Peanuts, ground

20g Almonds, ground

20g Brazil nuts, ground

Juice of 1 Lime

Handful of coriander leaves

Freshly ground white pepper and salt to taste

1 tbs Breadcrumbs

Method:

Lightly sauté the onion and the garlic in the olive oil. Add the reconstituted chillies and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Add the tomatillos, tomatoes and chicken stock and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the rest (excluding the bread crumbs and coriander leaves) and simmer, covered, for 1½ hours (if it gets too dry add some more chicken stock). Add breadcrumbs and coriander leaves, adjust seasoning (salt, pepper and lime juice) and serve as an accompaniment to grilled duck breasts.

NOTE: It is very important to keep this sauce simmering until it changes colour and the heat and chocolate flavours amalgamate. The finished sauce is no longer fiercely hot, nor is there an obvious chocolate flavour. You’ll find that the oil will float to the top of the sauce, a bit like a Malaysian Rendang and you need to stir it before service.

Tip: you can also add chicken thigh fillets, cut into cubes, to the mole as it simmers – they need about 20 minutes cooking time.