Chicken with Mole Negro Sauce
Authentic, fiery mole sauces from the southern region of Mexico take days to prepare. This is a relatively quick version of the chunky, spicy, and chocolatey, mole negro or “black sauce.” To experience the full flavors of peppers, native spices, and fresh chocolate, book a culinary vacation to Oaxaca, Mexico, the Land of Seven Moles, where you can explore a district known as the Trail of Chocolate. In the meantime, get fresh ingredients from your local farmers’ market. You can substitute jalepeños for the poblano chiles, but the dark dried ancho and mulato chiles are important to bring the sauce to its characteristic deep chocolate brown. This will make a large batch of sauce designed to thin and use for a meal, then freeze and thaw as needed.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 1 chicken plus 2 cups extra sauce
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the ancho and mulato chiles in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over them and allow them to soften for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the poblano chile by heating each side under the broiler until the skin turns black. Place the blackened chile on a cutting board, cut off the stem, remove and discard the seeds, and chop coarsely. You’ll feel some heat on your hands so be careful not to rub your eyes. Remove the anchos and mulatos from the water, and stem, seed, and chop them as you did the other chiles. Place all the chopped chiles in the bowl of a food processor.
Step 2
Rinse the chicken in warm water. Remove its giblets and neck, puncture the skin with a fork all around the top, dust it with salt and pepper, then place it on a rack in a baking dish. Place the chicken in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F.
Step 3
Meanwhile, scatter the peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, peppercorns, and cloves on a baking sheet. Roast them next to the chicken for about 20 minutes, or until they turn dark. Transfer them to the bowl of the food processor with the chiles. Add the tomatoes, cinnamon, chocolate, cocoa powder, tortillas, raisins, prunes, lime juice, and chicken broth. Blend until smooth with a slightly chunky texture from the nuts. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may need to process in two batches. Pour the sauce into a large pot.
Step 4
Heat the corn oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes, or until it starts to turn light brown. Add the onion and shallots and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until soft. Then add the vegetables to the large pot of sauce. Add the water slowly, stir occasionally, and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes. At any point as the sauce cooks, you can insert an immersion blender to create a smoother texture. Once the sauce simmers, remove the chicken from the oven, cover the top and the inside of the neck cavity with sauce, then return it to the oven to finish cooking. Reserve the remaining sauce for serving, keeping it on very low heat as the chicken finishes cooking.
Step 5
When the chicken reaches 165°F (about 1 1/2 hours), the sauce will be dried and blackened. Remove the chicken from the oven, scrape the blackened sauce off, then slice the breast with a sharp knife. Remove the drumsticks and wings if desired. Adjust the thickness of your sauce to taste, thinning it with water as needed. Arrange the slices, wings, and drumsticks on a platter and cover with a stripe of sauce over the center. Garnish with cilantro sprigs.
