Mole Poblano

How to make it

1. Put the chicken pieces in a large pot with the water, the halved onion, the 4 cloves of garlic, and salt. Bring it slowly to a boil, skimming off the gray foam as it rises for 10 minutes, until the surface is clear. The broth becomes the backbone of the mole, so it needs to be clean. ⏱ 10 min
2. Cover and let the chicken simmer over low heat for 40 minutes, until the meat is tender and pulls away from the bone when you tug it (internal temperature at least 75°C). ⏱ 40 min · passive
3. Lift out the chicken pieces and set them aside. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and keep it warm — you'll use it for both the mole and the rice.
4. Split open the mulato, ancho, pasilla, and chipotle chiles and remove the stems, seeds, and pale ribs. Toast them in batches in a dry, hot skillet for a total of 8 minutes, turning them often, until they smell sweet and become soft and pliable. Keep the heat moderate — a single scorched chile will make the whole mole bitter.
   Chef's tip Dried chiles hold a lot of sugar and turn from toasted to burnt in seconds. Go by smell: warm, raisiny, faintly sweet is right; the moment it sharpens to acrid smoke, throw that chile out rather than let it into the pot.
5. Put the toasted chiles in a bowl, pour boiling water over them until covered, and set a plate on top as a lid. Let them steep for 25 minutes, until completely soft and easily mashed between your fingers. ⏱ 25 min · passive
   Chef's tip The plate matters more than it looks — chiles float, and any part sitting above the water stays leathery and won't blend smooth. Press them under once or twice while they steep.
6. Melt half of the lard in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and brown the almonds and peanuts for 4 minutes, until golden and fragrant with toasting. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pot — it carries the flavor forward to the next batches.
7. Fry the raisins in the same fat for 1 minute, until they puff up and turn glossy, then lift them out.
8. Fry the plantain slices in the fat for 4 minutes, until the edges are deep golden and smell caramelized, then lift them out.
9. Fry the corn tortilla and bread slices in the fat for 3 minutes, until golden brown and crisp all the way through. They are the mole's thickener, so they must not stay soft in the middle.
10. Toast all the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes, until they pop and turn light gold. Set aside a tablespoon for serving.
11. Toast the cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, and anise seeds in the dry skillet for 1 minute, until the aroma rises from the pan.
12. Char the tomatoes, tomatillos, quartered onion, and the 4 cloves of garlic in the dry skillet for 10 minutes. Turn them as you go, until the skins are blotched black and the flesh is soft all the way through. ⏱ 10 min
13. Blend the soaked chiles with 2 dl of the strained chicken broth for 5 minutes, until the purée is thick and smooth with no visible bits of skin.
14. Put the almonds, peanuts, raisins, plantain, the fried bread and tortilla, the remaining sesame seeds, the toasted spices, and the charred vegetables in the blender together with 2 dl broth. Blend for 6 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and flows heavily off the spoon.
15. Press both purées — the chile purée and the nut purée — through a fine-mesh sieve into separate bowls, scraping along the underside of the sieve as you go. Straining is what gives the mole its silky texture, so keep at it until only dry skins and hulls remain in the sieve.
16. Heat the remaining lard in the heavy-bottomed pot until very hot, then pour in the chile purée all at once — it should sizzle vigorously right away. Fry it, stirring, for 10 minutes, until it darkens and the fat beads up on the surface. This is where the chiles lose their raw edge. ⏱ 10 min
    Chef's tip The purée spatters hard when it hits the hot fat — use a deep pot, a long-handled spoon, and hold the lid up as a shield for the first few seconds. If it doesn't sizzle right away, the fat is too cold.
17. Stir in the nut purée and keep frying for 8 minutes, stirring regularly, until the mixture is thick and pulls away from the bottom when you drag the spoon through it.
18. Thin with 1 liter of the strained broth, and add the broken Mexican chocolate and the grated piloncillo. Stir for 5 minutes, until both have melted completely and the sauce is evenly dark and glossy.
    Chef's tip Mexican chocolate is already sweetened, so taste before reaching for more piloncillo — the sugar should round off the chiles' bitterness, not read as sweet. Salt first, then judge; salt sharpens how sweetness registers.
19. Let the mole simmer over low heat for 45 minutes, stirring along the bottom every couple of minutes — it's thick with nuts and bread and scorches easily. It's done when it coats the back of a spoon in a layer and the fat separates out into small glossy islands. Season to taste with salt. ⏱ 45 min
    Chef's tip Keep it at a bare blip with occasional lazy plops — a full simmer spatters and catches. If it does scorch, tip the mole into a clean pot without scraping the bottom; a burnt layer stirred back in taints all of it.
20. Rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs clear, and let it drain in a sieve for 3 minutes, until dry on the surface.
21. Blend the tomato, the half onion, and the clove of garlic for the rice for 3 minutes into a smooth, red purée.
22. Heat the sunflower oil in a pot over medium heat and fry the drained rice for 5 minutes, stirring, until the grains turn milky white and smell nutty.
23. Pour the tomato purée into the rice and fry for 2 minutes, until it darkens and clings to each grain.
24. Add the chicken broth and salt, bring to a boil, and cover. Let the rice cook over low heat for 18 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the grains are tender. ⏱ 20 min · passive
25. Take the rice off the heat and let it rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Then gently fluff it with a fork so the grains separate and release steam. ⏱ 5 min · passive
26. Put the chicken pieces into the mole and let them heat through over low heat for 10 minutes, until the meat is warmed all the way through and the sauce has settled into a thick coat around each piece. ⏱ 10 min
27. Warm the corn tortillas in a dry skillet in batches, for a total of 6 minutes, until soft and blotched. Stack them in a clean kitchen towel so they stay warm and pliable.
28. Place two pieces of chicken in each deep plate, ladle plenty of mole over them so the meat is completely covered, and sprinkle the reserved sesame seeds over the sauce. Serve the rice alongside on the same plate. Set the tortillas on the table in their towel — you tear off a piece and use it to scoop up mole as you eat.