Holy Mole Chicken

Yum, Yum, YUM!!!!
So yesterday I was in the mood for Mexican, and I started looking around and realized I didn't have the ingredients to whip up something simple. Enter my inspiration for mole chicken...


I of course read about 20 recipes before attempting to create my own. This is a recipe I would make some substitutions for seasonally, i.e. earlier in the year I would have used FRESH tomatoes.

But here are the ingredients for the SAUCE:

1 can tomatoes
2 cloves minced garlic
2tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
3 dried chilis
1 star anise
1 tsp mint
1 tsp coriander
1 red onion, chopped
1 tsp. crushed bay leaf
3 tbsp. chicken bouillion and 1 cup of water or 2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 block unsweetened baker's chocolate



For the chicken:
4-5 chicken thighs, bone in
6 cups of water
2-3 slices of onion
1 clove garlic


Place chicken, water, onion, and garlic in a stock pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, work on the sauce. Toast the dried chili peppers in a skillet, just until they start to look like peppers again. Run the fan while doing so, toasting chili peppers smell. Add cinnamon and a bit of water and the star anise to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, pour the can of tomatoes on aluminum foil with garlic and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. (You don't have to line the pan in aluminum foil... it's totally on you how much of a mess you want to clean up.)

Put the onions in the blender and add a little water. Pulse until the onions are mostly mush. Add the tomato & garlic mixture and blend some more. Finally, add the other spices and the sesame seeds. Blend again.

Back to the pan on the stove. Using tongs, remove the chili peppers from the skillet. Then, using a fork and knife, or glove, or other method of protection, slit each one open and remove the seeds. Unless you like blazing hot stuff, in which case, skip this step and throw 'em in the blender. Either way, add them in and blend. Make sure you can't see any chunks of chili pepper floating around. Add the block of chocolate to the water/cinnamon/star anise on the stove. Cook until the chocolate is just melted. I also used the tongs to pull out any stray chili seeds as I was cooking for kids and didn't feel like dealing with "too spicy" complaints. Add the chocolatey goodness to the blender, and blend a final time.

Back to your chicken. Remove the pieces one by one and shred with a couple of forks. Return any skin, gobs of fat, and bone to the chicken pan. Continue to simmer.. you can turn this into chicken stock later and freeze to use again. Put the shredded chicken in a pan with about 1/3 of the sauce and simmer lightly until you are ready to eat. I also simmered a little on the side to top the other food with.

Serving suggestions:
I made homemade tortillas, similarly spiced vegetables, and rice. We smothered the rice in mole sauce too. My DH and I loved it, M liked everything BUT the mole. And R was too little to eat the mole, so next time, I'll just leave all the seeds in and have yummy spicy mole for us adults.

I did take pics, so they'll be up by tomorrow. :-)