Sauce: Mole
By Lishka DeVoss

TIME 90 minutes or so
YIELD 4 to 6 cups

INGREDIENTS

INDIVIDUALLY (ready to use):
4–5 tbsp corn oil
3 cups veggie or chicken stock (warm)
1 corn tortillas, 6-inch soft (cut into approx. 1x1-inch pieces)
1 oz pepitas (green no-shell pumkin seeds, unsalted and raw)
2 oz sesame seeds (ajonjoli)
1 oz raw peanuts
1/2 oz whole raw pecans
1/2 fresh, not quite ripe banana, peeled and sliced length-wise (or, 3-oz fresh, dark figs)
1/2 tablet Abuelita or Ibarra (spicier) chocolate, broken up a bit for blending

CHILI BOWL (stems cut off, de-seeded and cut into quarters using scissors):
4 dry chili pasilla (ancho)
2 dry chili California (long red chili pods)

SMALL BOWL:
1/3 medium yellow or white onion, roughly chopped
4 large garlic cloves (peeled and halved length-wise, any green shoots removed)

TINY BOWL:
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 whole allspice seeds
2 clove seeds
1 tsp whole black pepper seeds
1 small cinnamon stick

PREPARATION

1. In one pot, bring 4-cups water to a high simmer then add CHILI BOWL to soften — 20 minutes. Turn off heat and leave in pot until ready to remove for blending in Step 3; the softening water is NOT used for blending.

2. Toss each of the following into a single LARGE BOWL when they have finished their time in a 10-inch non-stick frypan:
– Over medium-low heat, cook TINY BOWL until fragrant — about 1 minute. Toss.
– Raise heat to medium and add splash of oil; cook tortillas until golden — about 3 minutes. Toss.
– Add splash of oil; cook SMALL BOWL until they sweat and brown. Toss.
– Add splash of oil; cook pepitas, stirring continuously, until they start to brown. Toss.
– Add splash of oil; cook peanuts, stirring continuously until they start to brown. Toss.
– Add splash of oil; cook pecans, stirring continuously until they start to darken. Toss.
– Add splash of oil; cook banana until brown on each side (lower heat if the frypan is too hot). Toss.
– Add splash of oil; cook sesame seeds, stirring continuously until they start to brown. Toss. Done with frypan.

3. In blender, place half contents of LARGE BOWL, half of chilis, 1.5-cups warm stock, and half chocolate. Blend until smooth; add remaining contents of LARGE BOWL, chilis, chocolate, and warm stock. Blend until smooth; mole should be thick and syrupy; add a bit more stock/water if too thick.

4. In a heavy deep pot on medium, heat 2-tbsp oil for about 2 minutes; then lower heat to low for about 1 minute.

5. Carefully add about a cup of mole and quickly stir it around for about 20 seconds, then add all the mole (use 1/2-cup or so of water to loosen any mole clinging to the sides of blender) and cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring continuously, until it darkens and the flavor deepens. (This spits like crazy if not stirred, so have a lid ready to protect yourself.)

NOTE If you forget to de-seed the chilis before soaking, just do it afterwards but before blending. The mole will have a bit more heat to it.

NOTE Can be frozen up to 3 months.

Updated 2021-02-04

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