Mole Negro con Pollo

Mole negro is the great dark masterpiece of Oaxacan cooking — a sauce of breathtaking complexity built from over twenty ingredients toasted, ground, and coaxed together over hours. Charred, almost-burnt chiles and Mexican chocolate create a sauce that is smoky, earthy, faintly sweet, and nothing like the simplified "chocolate sauce" of popular imagination. In Oaxacan households, mole negro is reserved for weddings and saints' days. The chicken braises directly in the finished sauce, absorbing its extraordinary depth.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Chicken: 1 whole chicken (1.5 kg / 3.3 lb), cut into 8 pieces; 1 litre (4 cups) chicken stock; 1 onion, halved; 4 garlic cloves

Mole paste:

• 4 dried mulato chiles, 3 ancho chiles, 2 pasilla negro chiles — all stemmed and seeded
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo
• 3 tablespoons lard or oil
• 1 corn tortilla, torn; 2 slices stale bread
• 60 g (¼ cup) sesame seeds; 60 g (¼ cup) pepitas
• 1 tomato, quartered; 1 small onion, quartered; 5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds; 3 cloves; one 5 cm (2 in) cinnamon stick
• 50 g (1.75 oz) Mexican chocolate (or 70% dark), chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano; salt to taste

Instructions

1. Simmer chicken in stock with onion and garlic for 25 minutes. Remove chicken; reserve all stock.
2. Toast dried chiles in a dry skillet, pressing flat, until blistered — 30 seconds per side. Soak in hot water 20 minutes, then drain.
3. Char tomato, quartered onion, and unpeeled garlic in the dry skillet until blackened in spots, about 8 minutes. Peel garlic.
4. In lard, fry torn tortilla and bread until golden. Remove. Toast sesame seeds and pepitas until golden. Toast cumin, cloves, and cinnamon until fragrant, 1 minute.
5. Blend all mole ingredients in batches with 500 ml (2 cups) reserved stock until completely smooth.
6. Heat 2 tablespoons lard in a large, deep pot over medium-high heat. Pour in mole paste — it will splatter — and fry, stirring constantly, 5 minutes until darkened. Add remaining stock gradually to a thick, coating consistency. Season with salt.
7. Nestle par-cooked chicken into the mole. Braise, partially covered, over low heat for 30–35 minutes, turning occasionally, until chicken is tender.
8. Serve over white rice with warm corn tortillas.

Cook's Notes: The mole paste can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Mole improves on day two once flavours fully meld. For the most authentic result, add 2 dried avocado leaves when frying the paste if available.