Hispanic.com Post: Enchiladas Rojas de Picadillo (Ground Beef Enchiladas)

Hello fellow bloggers and readers, this month I got a recipe article published in Hispanic.com

If you are interested and want to learn more about my families recipe for Enchiladas Rojas de Picadfillo (Ground Beef Red Enchiladas) check out the article for story behind it, recipe, and pictorials by clicking on the link below :-) Enjoy!

Part 1 of Article:

http://www.hispanic.com/food/main-courses/item/282-part-1-mexican-beef-red-salsa-enchiladasphotos-enchiladas-rojas-de-picadillo-de-res-by-nathan

Part 2 of Article:

http://www.hispanic.com/food/main-courses/item/281-part-2-red-chile-beef-enchildas-enchiladas-rojas-de-picadillo-de-res-by-nathan

Mole Rojo Almendrado y Encacahuetado Con Pollo (Red Almond and Peanut Sauce with Chicken)

Mole (pronounced Mole) is generally a complex sauce made of chilies, nuts/ seeds, onions, garlic, sometimes tomato and other ingredients like chocolate depending on the type.

This mole I'm presenting today is a very simple variation of Mole. I came up with it on sort of a whim when I was at my partners house and wanted to make something special for both of us :-)  so Mole popped into my head... with chicken and anything I had on hand...  So I got my creativity on and just thought of the elements of a mole. Sweet, savory, smokey, spicy, fruity, rich and then I simply let my imagination run wild combining those flavors generally fused into a mole sauce using what we had on hand. 

He almost always has almonds or almond butter and peanut butter in the pantry... I usually make sure I have on hand when I'm there dried "Chile California" which there was plenty of, and always have dried fiery "Chile Japnones" to make hot sauces on a whim ;-)... so those were key elements in the sauce... 
 

THE RESULTS... well a very complex tasting, rich, savory, sweet, spicy,  smokey, fruity, rich nutty sauce that is actually VERY SIMPLE to put together, but combines many elements. It's one of my partners favorites and I've made it several times a year :-) The list may look long, but you can really complete this dish in 1- 1 1/2 hrs which is fast for a Mole sauce (most Mole's take 3-5 hrs). The ingredients are generally readily available here in California and in the rest of the U.S.

Main Ingredients:

-3-4 lbs chicken (bone in skin on or no skin), pork, beef, or turkey meat

-salt to taste

-ground black pepper to taste

-garlic powder (sprinkle all over meat)- optional

-oil, just a little enough to lightly coat pot and brown meat

Ingredients for the sauce:

-1/4- 1/3 cup oil

-7 dried "Chile California" (remove top stem, split open and remove seeds)

-1 large handful "chile japones"

-1 stick of cinnamon

-1/2 of a medium onion or 1/4 of a big one  (quartered)

-2 cloves garlic

-1 about 1 cup almonds or 4 heaping tablespoons almond butter

-1 small banana or plantain (optional)
-1 large salad tomato (quartered) or 3-4 roma tomatoes (cut in half)

-4 heaping tablespoonfuls of peanut butter (or regular peanuts) (optional)

-1 teaspoon cumin

-1 teaspoon oregano

-2 heaping teaspoons chicken bouillon powder

-1 large tablet of "Mexican chocolate" such as Ibarra or "Chocolate Abuelita" (may substitute for unsweetened cocoa powder about 3 tablespoons, 1/2 or more tsp cinnamon and sugar to taste or this sounds like taboo but a packet of hot cocoa would work)

-sugar (sugar to taste more or less I like it on the sweeter side, OPTIONAL)

Directions:

(1) Heat a large deep pot over high heat, wash the meat you are using (I like to rinse with water, then cover in sink with water, add some vinegar, lots small handful salt, wash well, drain, rinse again, drain, then pat-dry, you may clean it however you like though I find the way I do it kills any "gamey" taste) now that meat is cleaned, drained and dried, set aside.

(2) When your pot is hot, add some oil, and then your meat to it and sprinkle generously with salt (not too much I'd say about 1 teaspoon or so to taste), sprinkle black pepper all over, and garlic powder, allow meat to brown on both sides or all over for about 10 minutes or until browned all over. (During this time we don't have to sit and wait we can PREPARE THE SAUCE) BUT do not forget to stir occasionall. 

PLEASE NOTE: If it browns too much while your spending time making the sauce, simply remove chicken from pot and set aside, then heat the pan again with chicken and all before adding blended sauce. SEE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW

Directions for sauce:

(1) Heat oil in a small pan over medium high heat, fry the dried chilies for about 30- 60 seconds until they slightly change color and they sort of coil or close in a way, do not over fry them because they will become bitter, remove set aside. 

(2) Now fry the cinnamon stick until you hear it pop and open a bit, remove set aside, fry the almonds, when browned remove and set aside... 

 (3) Next fry the  small banana cut in rounds or length wise, when browned set aside. Now fry the piece of bread until browned on both sides.Set aside.

(4) Then the onions, and garlic until golden brown, add the tomato in wedges and let it cook on high until it cooks through and blisters. now add tablet of chocolate and let it melt and bubble into the mixture. Set aside...

(5) In a regular blender blend all ingredients in batches with cinnamon, cumin, oregano, and the chicken powder. DO NOT ADD SUGAR YET.

(5) By now your meat should be browned, add all the well blended contents into the pot, give it a good stir, scraping the bottom of pot to get the nice drippings and fond, add more water to thin out the sauce.

(6) Once it bubbles, add enough water to barely cover meat, bring to a boil, add chocolate, sugar, any additional salt to taste, cover and leave on medium low approximately 45- 60 minutes until meat is tender, and oil rises to the top (this is how you know the mole sauce is done). 

(7) Remove from heat and serve with rice, and any sides you would like.

P.S. This is my "rasquache" style mole, my way/ "a mi manera" and it's damn delicious ;-)

Mole Colorado Oaxaqueño (Reddish Mole, Oaxaca-style)

This is another type of "mole" (mo-lay) type sauce a marriage of chiles, spices, chocolate, and some type of nut. The sauce from this mole is red due to the tomatoes, guajillo peppers, and slight reddishness of dried ancho chiles and the optional small dried red peppers. The sauce is slightly sweet, spicy, savory, velvety and rich.

I learned to make this dish/ got this recipe from one of my fellow blogging buddies, Nora from Tamaulipas, Mexico she was a wonderful blog dedicated to Mexican cooking called "Gusta Usted" where she posted this wonderful red- Oaxacan mole (Oaxaca, Mexico is known for their 7 variations of mole sauces red, colorado, yellow, black, green, & chichilo).

I found it pretty appealing as she used my mom's favorite dried pepper (the guajillo chile) and we were planning on making some turkey in "chile colorado" (a type of red sauce) I noticed that the base of this recipe is the same as the "chile colorado" sauce I make so I thought why not take it a step further and transform it into a mole, and I don't regret it at all :)

Ingredients for stock:
-3- 4 lbs turkey meat (neck, breast, thighs, etc. pork, chicken, or rabbit can easily be used as well)
-1 onion
-1/2 head garlic
-1 teaspoonful of oregano
-2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
-salt and black pepper to taste
-water (enough to submerge everything)

Ingredients for sauce:
-2 dried ancho chiles (remove stem, and cut open, discard seeds, and veins set aside)
-8 dried guajillos or chile california or dried new mexican chiles (remove stems, split open discard seeds & stems)
-small handful chile japones or chile de arbol (optional only if you want to make it spicy)
-2-3 medium sized tomatoes
-1/2 an onion
-2 cloves garlic
-1 stick of cinnamon
-2-3 cloves
-1 tsp ground cumin
-freshly ground black pepper to taste
-1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
-1 corn tortilla
-1 thick slice of french bread or 1/2 a bolillo or other bread (preferably stale or hard)
-1 tablet of Mexican chocolate
-salt and sugar to taste
-olive oil or lard (for best flavor) or you can use any neutral flavored oil (like canola)
Directions:
(1) Wash your meat, drain, add to a pot together with onion, garlic, oregano, salt, bouillon powder, and enough water to cover well. Bring to a boil, skim off any thick brown foam if it forms, leave covered for 2 hours or until tender.
(2) Okay now while meat is boiling prep all your ingredients (by having them on hand), heat a medium shallow pan over medium high heat, toast the sesame seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns and if using whole cumin seeds toast those too. When the sesame seeds change color dump all that in the blender.
(3) Now add oil to the pan about 1/4 cup or more, and lightly fry all the chiles like for 30 seconds removing them and adding them to the blender.

(4) Quickly fry your piece of bread and the corn tortilla, remove and add to the blender.

(5) Now heat more oil in that pan if necessary and start sauteeing your onions, and garlic in that oil until they looked somewhat caramelized, and your tomatoes without the seed and fleshy part touching the oil let it fry a bit, add the chocolate and fry everything stirring constantly. Dump that mixture into the blender.
(6) When everything is in blender, add about 2 or more cups stock enough to liquify & liquify everything (start on low setting then work your way up to the higher setting, little by little to get everything really liquidied/ pureed) you can add more stock if it's having to much difficulty (I hope you have a good blender lol.)
(7) Heat a large pot that's lightly oiled
and add the blended mixture (you can choose to strain it through a strainer, I didn't my blender really blended it really well) quickly cover, and bring to a rolling bubble, cover, and then lower heat and stir occasionally for 6 minutes. Add more stock to thin it out little by little (depends how thick you want your sauce) add your meat pieces
and let it simmer over medium uncovered 10- 20 minutes to thicken and the meat get's the flavor (sometimes for these types of sauces I'll have the meat seperate, and just ladel the sauce over, I do that when I make huge batches but with this small batch it was fine)
(8) Remove from heat and serve :)

Please Note:
(1) I used turkey because my grandmother from my moms side loves turkey, specially the neck and gizzards, so I made it using neck, gizzard, and some of the bones with meat, along with a large breast that I chunked. However I MUCH rather make it with chicken or pork (specially pork spareribs, which is one of my favorite cuts of the pig)

Mole Negro Oaxaqueño (Black Mole, Oaxaca-style)

Like I've said in previous posts, mole is a type of complex Mexican sauce TYPICALLY involves spices, dried chiles, & chocolate. It's prepared with either chicken, pork, rabbit, or turkey. You can think of it as a type of "Mexican curry" and it's not pronounced like the animal "mole" it's pronounced "mo-lay" haha cuz if it was mole as in the animal that name would sound kinda gross...

There are TONS of variations and types (black, yellow, white, green, poblano, manchamanteles, almendrado, chichilo, rojo, coloradito, de olla, etc. all with a variety of ways to prepare them and recipes that vary from cook to cook) the most popular Mole sauce is "Mole Poblano" that's what most people are familiar with in the states and popular through out Mexico. The provinces most well known for their Mole is the state of Oaxaca as well as Puebla, yup yup.

Anyways today I want to share how I make "Mole Negro" I am VERY well known in my family for making a BOMB @$ delicious Mole Negro, I make it ONCE a year or ONCE every 2 years for special events (someones bday, my grandma from my Mexican side when she visits us, or holidays). Be warned it is fairly simple, BUT very very time consuming (give yourself 5 hours) that is the reason it is considered "special" the marriage of the smokey peppers, chocolate, sugar, sweet spices, nuts is unique but delicious they actually go very very well together... oh and one more WARNING PLEASE if you are making this don't get lazy along the way and try to rush it because you may ruin all your hard work... I tried to make this for one of my friends couple years ago (Travis) and was rushing while making it and trying to multi-task, I accidentally over charred the dried chiles in the oil because I was getting distracted trying to chop other stuff here and there, etc... and it made my whole batch of Mole BITTER T_T so please take your time and be careful with it okay.

Ingredients for the stock:
-4 1/2 lbs chicken (I used 2 large breasts, 5 drumsticks, and 2 thighs with leg skin on bone-in)
-1 large bell pepper
-1 onion
-6 cloves garlic
-2 medium tomatoes
-1 tsp. cumin
-1 tsp oregano
-1 tsp ground black pepper
-3 bay leaves
-4 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
-3 or more teaspoonfuls salt to taste
-water enough to cover all ingredients

Main Ingredients for the sauce:
-5 chiles chilhuacle negros (dried chile negro)
-5 chiles mulattos (dried mulatto chiles)
-5 chiles pasillas (dried pasilla chiles)
-5 chiles guajillo (dried guajillo chiles)
-2 chiles chipotles (dried chipotles or in adobo)
*****here's a picture, the one's on the far left are guajillos, followed by the beige one's those are chipotles, then the mulattos which are dark, followed by the chile negro, and lastly the chile pasilla or ancho they look similar to the mulatto chiles but have a black reddish tinge, the mulatto is completely black.***
-5 tomatillos (green tomatillos) halved
-3 roma tomatoes halved
-1 medium onion quartered
-8 cloves garlic peeled
-1 frying banana/ plantain ripe
-2 slices of bolillo or french bread or white bread
-1/2 cup black or white sesame seeds
-1 small handful of each almonds, pecans, and peanuts (optional you really don't need them at all, alot of people don't use them)
-1 handful raisins
-1 stick cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
-3 cloves
-1/2 tsp oregano
-1/2 tsp. thyme
-2- 3 bars/ round tablets of Mexican Chocolate (such as Ibarra chocolate, or Chocolate Abuelita)
-salt to taste
-sugar to taste (I use 1/8 of a cup)

Ingredients to make the mole black:
-1 corn tortillas turned into ashes (optional, you may not be able to do this because it needs to be outdoors CANNOT be done inside your home)
-the seeds and stems of the dried chilies turned into ashes((optional, you may not be able to do this because it needs to be outdoors CANNOT be done inside your home)

Directions for making the stock:
(1) Wash chicken very well, rinse several times, drain, last rinse do it with salt, vinegar, water, rinse again and pat- dry.

(2) Add chicken to a pot, cover with water, add all the stock ingredients (onion, garlic, bell pepper, tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano)

(3) Bring to a boil on high, lower heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour. When done turn off heat.

Directions of the sauce: (do this while your stock is being made/ boiled)
(1) Remove the stems and seeds from ALL the peppers, except chipotles. Set aside in a bowl.

(2) Make sure you have all the ingredients for the sauce on hand, like have htem all on your kitchen counter ready to use. Gather everything you need.
(3) Heat a medium sized pan, add 1/3 cup lard, and 1/3 cup oil or all lard. The rest of the procedures are pretty much frying all the stuff your gonna use for your sauce.
(4) First fry your plantain slices, over medium high, about 3-4 minutes on each side, until caramelized, pull out of oil, drain, and set aside.
(5) Fry your cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, and if using your almonds, pecans, and peanuts when cinnamon stick opens and pops, remove everything you added set aside.
(6) Fry your raisins, less than 30 seconds set aside in large empty bowl, get your bowl of chiles and briefly about 20 seconds each, fry it in the oil, in batches, drain and set aside into another empty bowl you'll have on hand. (Don't panic at this point I bet the chiles are absorbing most of the oil that's fine you'll still have some left)


(7) Fry the slices of bread until golden, and set aside.

(8) Now fry the onions, garlic, and tomatillos, do not stir constantly let them brown and caremelize, fry the tomatoes at the end. Set aside.
(9) Fry the sesame seeds briefly like 30 seconds until you hear a popping sounds, set aside.

(10) Toast all the chile seeds until they smell a little bit and slightly change color. Set aside

More Directions for the sauce:(1) Okay you have everything fried now, pretty simple just time consuming and make sure you don't burn anything... by now your stock should be made, get a medium pot, add your chiles & raisins, cover with the hot chicken stock, and bring to a boil for about 10- 20 minutes until tender.
(2) Now puree/ blend/ liquify EVERY single ingredients including spices EXCEPT chocolate for your sauce in a blender, using the chicken stock, do this in batches. Empty the contents into a very large pot or bowl. Set aside.

(3) Now heat a large pot on the stove, when hot, strain the blended mole sauce ingredients through a strainer, adding stock to the strainer to help get it through (this is to get rid of any seeds or pulp, and hard spice pieces that didn't get liquified enough).
Bring to a boil, add chocolate tables, salt, and sugar to taste.

(4) Allow sauce to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes- 1 hour.

Directions to blacken sauce (optional I know it's a hassle but I did it, it makes a difference, and as opposed to what many think it won't make the sauce bitter TRUST ME)
(1) Get 2 corn tortillas, and practically burn them until they can't even ignite on fire, turn it to ash, DO NOT do this indoors, the smoke will make your fire alarms go off, smell really bad, and make you choke and cough

(2) The way I did it was I charred the tortillas until they can ignite on the stoves fire, then put it in a pot broken up, over medium high heat, covered the pot with it's lid, and wrapped the top around the lid with a WET very DAMP cloth towel, this is so the smoke doesn't get released into your house. DO this for about 10 minutes.

(3) Carefully move it outside (I took it to my balcony) open it carefully not facing it, ITS hot be careful, allow smoke to go outside, and stir and see if it turned to ashes/ super black and can't ignite.

(4) If not repeat step... it's a bit tedious but work it. Now puree it/ blend it with the chicken stock and strain it into the mole pot.
Simmer additional time until mole darkens.
It won't make it bitter though TRUST, it's actually tasteless (I tasted the ash lol.) I don't know how healthy that is to do (probably not so much because of all the carcinogens) but I learned that technique from other people and it contributes to taste & supposibly makes it easy to digest the sauce.

More directions/ tips
(1) Only use enough stock to puree the ingredients, you are not making soup, teh sauce should be like a loose gravey or regular gravey consistency. If it came out to soupy puree in blender about 1/2 cup of masa harina flour with some of the leftover stock, and thicken the mole with that.

Directions to serve:
(1) Place a piece of chicken on your plate, that you have aside in the pot that it boiled in, ladel the mole sauce over it. Serve with whatever you'd like (Mexican red rice that you can make using leftover stock, refried beans, etc. or just warm corn tortillas) I served it with a Mexican yellow rice, fire roasted poblanos sauteed with onions in cream (chile en rajas con crema), and refried peruano beans.
P.S.I originally got the recipe many years ago from an online website called "Mole Pages" the URL was www.ramekins.com/mole/molenegro.html the website no longer exists, but it said it was from "Chile Pepper Magazine, Jan 95 couresy of Michael Bowers (mkbower@ucdavis.edu)" BUT I changed the recipe a bit but used it as a guide to get a good idea, and also learned from watching other cooks, and asking friends and relatives (I learned to fry all the sauce ingredients from my aunt Sylvia from San Antonio, Texas, and the making of the ashes from "Angrychrisjavi" from Dallas, Texas, she's one of my favorite youtube Mexican cooks. I also tweaked the quantities of ingredients and omitted and added some, and the results are very good, I get nothing but compliments for this mole and have also learned from trial and error :) It's my own but I want to give tribute to where I learned it from/ got the idea from :)

Notes:You will probably have leftover sauce, it freezes well, or you can cook any other meats and top it with the mole sauce, or sautee some onions, add beaten eggs to scramble, then add mole sauce to simmer YUM good breakfast with corn tortillas, or even poach eggs in the sauce... or you can eat a hot bowl of just the sauce with corn tortillas and beans... or use the mole sauce in place of the red enchilada sauce to make some "enmoladas" :)

Menudo Rojo (Red Mexican Tripe Stew)

Menudo in Mexican Cuisine is a soup made primarily of beef tripe (cows stomach) and beef foot or pork feet (depending on preferance) boiled with garlic, onion, spices and herbs which vary from cook to cook. There are two versions one in a rich red broth (which is what my mother makes) and a white one in a rich clear broth. Some versions include hominy in the stew other's completely omit it. (This depends on what part of Mexico you are at) it truly is a dish that varies a lot whether clear or red, or seasoned very simply with just salt, onion, garlic or versions with an array of spice blends and herbs.

The way it is served also varies from region to region, some serve it with flour tortillas, others with corn tortillas, some even with Bolillo (Mexican version of french bread/ rolls) garnishes, etc. can vary.

Anyways the version I grew up eating was ALWAYS in a red broth, made from dried chiles and tomatoes, and spices down here in Southern California at Restaurants, stores, family friends only twice in my lifetime have I had it with Hominy (once in a household in Texas that hosted a "Posada" and another time my mother's friend Carmen who asked for Hominy in it) The version my mom grew up on though was always red as well, and excluded the hominy and was served with corn tortillas.

Though growing up enjoying this soup occasionally we never prepared it at home ha ha, but over time asking around we got a real good recipe, and got around to making it, the recipe came from a family friend who's originally from Sinaloa, Mexico.

One day my mother was at her friend Carmen's house and Carmen's son delivered the most delicious Menudo my mom claims she has had, it was very fragrant, didn't have any gamey smell from the tripe or beef foot, and has a very complex taste that married well with everything she demanded to learn the recipe, and from that day fourth she's been making Menudo (it's only been about 2 years hehe) what makes this version of Menudo so special I think is the fresh mint in combination with the bay leaves which helps kill any off taste the Menudo may have, and the mint makes it more soothing to the stomach, it's also spiced with a combination of coriander seeds, cumin, and pepper which gives it a taste that's hard to describe but I'll tell you it's amazing. Then finished off by stirring in a strong red sauce of dried chile California which are actually very mild. The broth is always rich from the bones and cartilage in the pig feet, and the gelatine as well which is present in the stomach, the pectin in the chilies and tomato contribute to it's richness as well.

I also wanted to add that this soup is often used as a hangover cure too hehe, and is seen as very nutritious and healthy. Also very good for bone health. Enjoy the recipe is as follows :)

Ingredients:
-4 lbs. beef tripe
-4 lbs. pork feet or beef foot (well cleaned ask butcher to remove toes, and slice down the center)
-1 whole large onion (outer skin peeled off)
-1 head of garlic (peel outer skin, leave whole)
-3 bay leaves
-1 bunch of fresh mint leaves and stems well washed
-1 tablespoon coriander seeds
-1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
-2 tablespoons salt (more to taste)
-16 dried "Chile California" (California chiles or New Mexico Chiles)
-2 large ripe tomatoes or 4 small roma tomatoes

Ingredients to serve:
-Finely minced onion (to serve in individual bowls)
-fresh limes (to squeeze over, the amount you add is to taste)
-dried oregano (to crumble over)
-fresh corn tortillas (you can roll them up and dip them in the hot broth as you eat and take a bite)

Directions to clean tripe and pigs feet:
(1) It is very important to clean the tripe real well, you buy it already cut up and cleaned, but afterwards remove any excess fat (like huge chunks of fat that maybe attached), rinse them in cold water several times, along with the big feets, and soak them in cold water, vinegar, and salt, swoosh them around and let them rest a bit like 10 minutes.
Then drain and wash well again, and drain using cold water. Set aside. At this point the tripe is ready to use.
(2) Get those pig feets you have to get each individual one, and this sounds gross but get a clean razor and remove any hair you may feel it still has (the stores usually shave the feet real well and stuff but sometimes there's some they miss). Now add the feet in a large pot with enough water to barely cover
and bring to a boil 10- 15 minutes, then drain (this is done to remove all impurities from it) Set aside they are ready to use.
Directions for boiling tripe and pigs feet:
(1) Heat a very large pot (VERY LARGE) half-way with water, add your garlic, onion, bay leaves, mint leaves, coriander seeds, ground cumin, ground black pepper, and salt.
When this comes to a boil, add the cleaned pigs feet and the tripe.

and the tripe.

(2) Cover and allow to simmer for about 3 hours until tender (you don't want to over cook it or let it get too tender it's nice to have that chew and not just jello)

(3) Meanwhile prepare the red sauce that you will add to the stew towards the last 30 minutes- 1 hour of cooking, made from the dried "Chile California's" and tomatoes along with garlic and onion
you remove the stems and seeds from the chiles, and cut the large tomatoes in half then cover with enough water to boil and allow to simmer about 10- 15 minutes. Then blend in small batches with 1/2 a raw onion and 2 raw garlic cloves peeled.
strain the mixture and set aside
(4) After 3 hours check your tripe and feet, if they are as tender as you'd like (seriously a long time ago my mom cooked this for like 5-6 hours and the texture was just too soft for our liking so 3 hours was good) it should look like below
At this point remove the onion, garlic, bay leaves, and any big pieces of whatever you stewed the meat with and add the strained red sauce
stir and the broth should turn a rich red color
simmer an additional 30 minutes
when done serve in bowls with minced onion, oregano, lime and fresh corn tortillas :)
I like to serve mine with lots of fresh minced onion, oregano, and freshly squeezed lime juice.
PLEASE NOTE:
(1) For my readers in Spain who may not have access to these dried chiles you can use a combination of "Pimientos Choriceros secos" and "Nora Peppers" and access to corn tortillas is probably scarce so good crusty bread would do. I'm sure you'd still get a wonderful dish substituting those :)

(2) For any Mexicans that want this broth to be spicy substitute dried Guajillos for some of the Chile California. Maybe about 6.

(3) For those that like to add Hominy you can add 1 large can of Hominy (it's pre-cooked whole corn kernels but it's a different type of corn like the one used for Pozole) it has to be added 1 hour prior to turning the stew off, because they aren't completely cooked. My mother however omits it.

Mole Verde de Carmen (Carmen's Green Mexican Curry)

Mole (pronounced Mole-ay) is a term used to describe complex Mexican sauces that usually have a variety of dried chilies, chocolate, nuts, and spices used to cook turkey, chicken or pork depending. The best way I can think of to describe it to people not familiar with Mexican Cuisine is that "Mole" is a type of Mexican "curry" with tons of variations, some are almond based, some yellow from using corn masa, different shades of red depending on the peppers, some dark shades of brown of black, etc. and one of the very unique one's that deviate from the typical is "Mole Verde" a.k.a. green mole, which is based on a variety of leafy greens, green tomatillos, and sometimes green pumpkin seeds.


The recipe I share with you today is Mole Verde, and it is by far my favorite recipe for Mole Verde. This recipe has been passed to my mother by her dear friend Carmen, whom is a 96 year old Mexican woman originally from Guadalajara, Mexico who learned this recipe from her mother so it dates back at least 100+ years, she like me and my mother has much love for the kitchen, and has taught my mother a thing or two about Mexican Cuisine. Her recipe for "Mole Verde" is by far the most healthiest, simple, and delicious version I have had.

The sauce unlike some Mole Verde's I've tried is extremely smooth, because the greens are cooked prior to blending as well as the tomatillos, recipes that blend everything raw then simmer tend to not produce smooth sauces, they tend to be grainy to some extent. Also it isn't heavily spiced, it's the natural flavor of the different greens and vegetables that give this sauce it's flavor which are pre-dominantly mostly from the smokey taste from the poblano peppers, peppery tones from the radish leaves, it get's slight citrus taste from the cilantro, and the special green/ herb in here is "Epazote" which has a very strong taste and flavor, I can describe it as earthy, strong pungent smell? It's very hard to describe the taste, extremely unique. Like maybe "brothy"? So I guess I can describe it as smokey and peppery without being spicy, as well as an acidic fresh bite from the cilantro to balance the earthiness and brothiness of the Epazote, then I forgot to mention the meaty citrus taste of tomatillos, and we all know how good onions and garlic are too, all this is just married the right way together to produce a healthful, flavorful and savory green sauce that is stewed with meat. It's just one of those things you gotta try.

And just a heads up for all those having all these healthful New Years resolutions or who need a break from the sugary, rich and fatty diet of the new years and Christmas (although sugary, rich, and fatty is me almost every day) this is a real healthy great recipe to try because for one in this version of Mole Verde everything is boiled nothing is fried or has fat added to it, it incorporates tons of healthful greens, and can be made with chicken which is generally accepted to be a more "diet" conscience alternative for many (when the skin is removed) I however just eat everything in moderation but just a heads up for those who aren't like that ha ha.

Ingredients for the stock:
-1 whole chicken 3-4 lbs., cleaned, washed, cut into sections (I wash it several times after cutting in sections, then the last wash I submerge it in water with a lot of salt, and either vinegar or lime and swoosh and drain then rinse with water again. I'm just real picky about chicken and pork don't like the after taste if it's not well cleaned)
-3-4 bay leaves
-1 tsp whole black peppercorns (or black pepper to taste)
-4 cloves garlic
-1/2 onion
-2 tsp. chicken bouillon
-2 tsp. salt (or more to taste)

Ingredients to finish the dish:
-1 head of Romaine lettuce washed and roughly chopped
-1 handful of fresh Epazote about 1/2 of a large bunch washed.. for some reason this herb just reminded me of weed... though it does look sorta different ha ha

-1 bunch of Cilantro
-2 small bunches of Radish Leaves washed (removed from two small store bought bunches of radish) this is what they look like
-2 fresh Poblano Peppers washed and seeded
-2 cups "tomatillo milpero" or regular tomatillos outer husk removed
-1/2 onion
-2 cloves garlic
-salt to taste

Directions for the chicken stock:
(1) Fill a large pot half- way with water, add peppercorns, bay leaves, garlic, onion, bouillon, and salt bring to a rolling boil.

(2) Add CLEANED and already cut into sections chicken to the pot. Wait for it to come to a rolling boil, skim off any impurities and boil for about 30- 35 minutes. (You do not want to overcook the chicken to the point that it falls apart becuase you will cook it longer when you stew it in the green sauce and use the stock to form the sauce)
(3) After chicken has been cooked, remove from stock, strain the stock to get rid of the pieces of things used to make it. So you just get a golden clear stock. Set aside.

Directions for the rest of the dish:
(1) Get all your cleaned vegetables and throw them in a large pot EXCEPT the garlic and onion, add about 5 cups of the reserved chicken stock, you don't need to submerge them just add about 5 cups trust me, you just want to cook em down and wilt, you can thin the sauce out later as needed, cover and bring to a boil about 10- 15 minutes
When the tomatillos change color, and sorta pop then you can stop simmering it
(2) Blend all your boiled vegetables in small batches, adding more chicken stock if necessary to blend BUT don't add to much or it will be to liquidy I did it in two batches along with garlic and onion. Here's the first batch
then adding it to the pot that I set my chicken aside in, no need to strain just blend it until real smooth
and here's my second batch which I added the chopped onion and garlic to
same thing pour it into the pot with chicken
(3) Now put the pot back on the stove, and set heat to high and bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer on medium low uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 20- 25 more minutes, if the sauce is to thick, add more reserved chicken stock about 1/2 cup at a time until it's as thick as you want it or as thin. REMEMBER it thickens as it cools, and also REMEMBER YOU DO NOT WANT THIS TO BE SOUP either, it's a stew. After boiling 10 minutes, check and see if you want to add more salt to taste. When it's done cooking it should look like this :)
(4) You will have leftover chicken stock, you can save it for other dishes, for making soups, rices, etc. my mom used some of the leftover chicken stock to make Arroz Rojo (Mexican red rice), and some to use to make a very spicy salsa in which she used the stock instead of water, you can try and make the "Salsa de Chile de Arbol". This mole can be served in a large bowl with tortillas, and if you'd like a side of red rice, and for those who want to get super full a side of "Frijoles de le Olla" (Mexican boiled beans) or even refried beans.
PLEASE NOTE:
*This green Mole sauce is NOT spicy at all, just smokey and peppery. So for those who don't like spicy, you should try it out. We make a separate hot sauce at home to serve it with for those who love the heat. Now for the home cooks who want to make this spicy, you may add maybe 3-6 Serrano chilies depending on how hot you want it....... also I just want to add I've seen pre-made green pastes to make like "instant" mole verde at the Mexican stores... I'm sure they are good... but something about using a pre-made paste of old preserved greens makes me feel eh when I have the option to make it fresh at home, and it isn't so difficult to make at home or any harder.

P.S. Ima say it again... hehe if you'd like to help me out please vote for me to win a chance to have my own recording and be feautured on the cooking show Delicioso on "Univision" by voting for me in the below link. It is one of my dreams to be in something like that :)

http://cocina.univision.com/delicioso/episodios/article/2011-01-05/el-bloggero-delicioso