by Sún, on September 12th, 2011
So it turns out that a mole (pronounced mo-lay) isn’t just a furry European woodland creature, or even that girl at high school you hated. It’s also a Mexican Spanish term for sauce – a guacamole is technically avocado sauce.
This mole is a very simple version, with great flavours. Cooking the chicken this way also seems to make it incredibly tender. Use this recipe as a base, and add whatever spices you like. It makes a great filler for burrito’s, enchilada’s, tostada’s etc or would also be fantastic served over brown rice. I used chipotle chillies, which can be found dried or canned in Mexican speciality stores. If you can’t find them, don’t worry, just add some extra roasted chillies and capsicum, and maybe add some more smoky paprika to the spice mix.
Try not to be scared by the amount of ingredients. I find things can be easily omitted or added to this mole, it’s all a matter of taste. I also seem to end up with heaps of leftover sauce (as I rarely need to cook 12 chicken thighs), the sauce freezes easily and can be used again next time!
Chicken Mole
1 onion, peeled & cut into quarters
4 cloves garlic
3 medium tomatoes
3 long chillies (red or green)
150 gms unsalted peanuts (I used pre-crushed peanuts)
100 gms white sesame seeds
3 cloves
1 star anise
1/2 cinnamon scroll
3 allspice berries
2 tsp smoky paprika
2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
3 dried chipotle chillies
1 tspn tamarind pulp
1 tblspn sugar
Splash of vinegar (cider or white)
12 chicken thighs
500 ml water
30 ml oil
First, heat your oven as high as it will go. Roast the onion, garlic, tomatoes and chillies until nicely blackened and soft (the garlic will only take about 10 mins, the rest of the veg will take up to half an hour). Line your tray with foil to save tears at dishes time.
Cover the chipotles in boiling water and leave to soak for at least 15 mins. When soft, slice finely. Reserve water, but discard seeds if you don’t like too much heat.
In the meantime, roast the peanuts in a heavy bottom fry pan until golden. If whole, smash in mortar and pestle. Fry sesame seeds, making sure they don’t burn. Grind the whole spices, then toast with powdered spices until fragrant. Combine peanuts, sesame seeds and spices.
Add peanut mix, roasted veg, chipotles, tamarind, vinegar & sugar to a blender. Loosen with chipotle water and blend until smooth. Add more water if required.
Heat fry pan until smoking, then add oil and chicken thighs (skin side down if skin on). Cook for about 5 minutes until crispy and golden, then cook on other side for 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan, and add mole. Stir constantly so it doesn’t burn, turn the heat down after a couple of minutes and keep stirring. Add rest of the water and the chicken, cover and cook over a gentle heat for about 25 minutes until chicken is cooked. You may need to adjust sugar / salt depending on acidity of your vegetables.
Corn Salsa
1 cob of corn
1/2 small tomato, seeded and diced
Small handful fresh coriander, diced
2 green shallots, thinly sliced
Squeeze lime
Lime zest to taste
Salt to taste
If you have a BBQ, simply roast the corn on the grill for until blackened and delicious. If you don’t (like me) boil the corn for a few minutes, cool then slice kernels off cob. Combine with other ingredients.
Guacamole
1 ripe avocado
1/2 small tomato, seeded and diced
Small handful of fresh coriander, diced
2 green shallots, thinly sliced OR 1/4 red onion, small diced
Squeeze lemon
Salt to taste
I do not believe in sour cream in guacamole, I don’t know why as I happily add it to burritos or tostadas with the guacamole. Mash the avocado, add the other ingredients. Again, make sure you adjust lemon juice and salt to taste. Avocado’s taste very different depending on variety and the season, so you’re just going to have to make up your own mind as to how much acidity / salt it needs 
Finally, chunky dice half a red capsicum and fry at a very high heat with minimal oil.
Use white corn tostada’s if you can get them, fry quickly to heat. Wheaten burrito’s work just as well. Slice the chicken, and build your Mexican dream with cheese, sliced lettuce, guacamole, capsicum, chicken mole, sour cream and corn salsa. And Margarita’s. Oh how we love Margarita’s.
Sún Etheridge -Top 8 Masterchef Contestant 2011, holds a degree in Journalism and writes reviews about anything that takes her fancy. You can read them here.
). I don’t have a lot of photos yet because, well, it’s kinda hard to take photos of your own wedding day and our amazing photographer is still editing ours, however this is my favourite photo I’ve seen so far. Billy was the guy behind the camera who took this one. I particularly love how Disney princess my hands are, you can practically see the ‘My Prince Charming’ thought bubble above my head.
