Mole Negro

This was also invented by me based on some recipes online. This was my most successful mole negro to date, so I will blog it. As I see it, the ratios of this recipe depend a lot on what you're looking for in a mole. The important thing to take away is the method.

Ingredients

• 3-6 dried Mexican chiles of various sorts. We went with some smokier varieties.
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp raisins (ish)
• Pinch of clove
• 2 pinches of allspice
• 1/4tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp adobo
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 1/4c (or so) bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp almond butter (or I guess peanut butter if you can't it? I don't know - might consider just using almonds)
• water

To a sauce pan, add the onion and saute with some neutral oil. When it gets translucent, add the chiles, garlic, clove, allspice, cinnamon, and adobo and toast for a while. Then add about 1c water (enough to cover) along with the raisins and bring to a boil for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and blend in a blender until pretty damn smooth - about a minute on high. Pour this back into the pan and add the chocolate, stirring until it's melted. Then add the almond butter and do the same. Taste it and adjust seasonings as necessary. Now return it to heat and bring it to a boil. The almond butter should cause it to thicken considerably. Thin to desired consistency and salt to taste.

Thoughts: This was our first really successful mole, and I think that the differences were boiling the mixture and blending it in an actual blender, not using a stick blender. Those things are fine, but they won't get the texture REALLY smooth like a stand blender will. I feel like when I made this, I may have added more than 1/4c chocolate. You can also add cocoa powder or more chips if you don't get enough chocolate flavor, but the chocolate shouldn't overpower everything. We served this on fish tacos. Then on shrimp tacos. Then on enchiladas. I don't think we've used it all yet, but it's good.

Disaster Index: 1/10