Categories: Mexican
Ingredients
- 5 bone-in chicken thighs, with skin
- 5 bone-in chicken drumsticks, with skin
- 6 cups water
- 1 small carrot, coarsely chopped
- 1//4 medium white onion
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled, divided
- 2 1/2 tsp salt, divided
- 5 ancho chiles
- 3 dried mulato chiles
- 3 dried pasilla chiles
- 2 dried chipotle chiles
- 1 2-inch piece Mexican cinnamon
- 3 whole cloves
- 2 allspice berries
- 1 1/4 tsp aniseed
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 7 raw unsalted almonds
- 5 raw unsalted pecans
- 5 raw unsalted hazelnuts
- 2 tbsp. sunflower oil plus 7 tsp, divided
- 6 tbsp. raw unsalted peanuts
- 2 day-cold corn tortillas
- 1 small day-old dinner roll, cut in half
- 1 tbsp. raisins
- 1 1/2 oz. Mexican chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
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Trim any excess chicken skin or fat. Place the chicken in a large pot. Add water, carrot, onion, 1 garlic clove and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam from the surface. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the chicken is just cooked through, about 25 minutes. Remove the chicken to a large bowl. Let cool slightly; discard the skin and refrigerated. Strain and reserve the stock for the mole.
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Snip stems off chiles, cut them open and remove the seeds. Set aside.
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Toast cinnamon stick, clove, allspice, aniseed and cumin in a small dry skillet over low heat, stirring often, until very aromatic, 1-3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl.
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Add almonds, pecans and hazelnuts to the pan; toast, stirring often, until golden brown in spots, 2-4 minutes. Coarsely chop and add to the spices.
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Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add about half the chiles and cook, stirring, until very aromatic and the skins puff slightly, 1-2 minutes. Remove to a plate. Add 2 tsp oil and repeat with remaining chiles. Remove to the plate.
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Wipe out the pan and heat 2 tsp oil over medium heat. Add peanuts and cook, stirring, until golden brown in spots, 1-2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the spices.
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Wipe out the pan and heat 2 tsp oil over medium heat. Cook tortillas, one at a time, until golden, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to the bowl. Cook dinner roll, turning once, until golden brown in spots, 1-2 minutes per side. Coarsely chop and add to the bowl.
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Wipe out the pan and heat 1 tsp oil over low heat. Add raisins and cook, stirring, until the skins puff up, 25-30 seconds.
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Coarsely chop the remaining 3 cloves garlic and place in a blender. Crumble the toasted chiles into the blender; pulse until finely chopped. Add the spices and buts, tortillas, bread and raisins. Add 3 cups of the reserved stock. Blend into a very thick puree, stirring as needed to release any air pockets.
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. Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl, pressing on the solids and scraping the underside of the sieve to extract as much as possible.
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. Scrape the remaining pulp from the sieve back into the blender. Add 1 cup stock and blend again into a thick puree. Strain into the same bowl. Repeat twice more, using 1 cup additional stock with each batch. The sauce should be the consistency of gravy; add additional broth or water, if necessary. Discard the remaining pulp in the sieve.
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. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp. oil in the large pot over medium heat. Carefully add the sauce and cook, stirring, until hot, about 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate and the remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt. Add the chicken, turning to coat with the sauce. Cover and cook until the chicken is hot, 5-10 minutes. Serve the chicken with some of the sauce.