The time has finally come to add Mole sauces to the site!
I've had moderate success with Mole sauces in the past, but I always wanted to refine them a little more before sharing. Well...hello refining!
Here's a look at the sauces I'll be fiddling with over the next few weeks:
Mole Negro
Express Mole
If you're new to Mole sauces you're in for a treat! I think they're a great example of Mexican cuisine's boundless creativity. Plus they taste good 🙂
Here's a look at the ingredients I've been gathering to make these sauces. Don't worry about tracking down every last one of these ingredients as there will be some leeway in the final recipes.
Dried Chiles
Dried chiles are the foundation of most Mole sauces. I think Anchos are the most useful so keep an eye out for those.
You'll also frequently see Mulato chiles used in the darker Mole sauces -- I don't use Mulatos in my everyday cooking, but I have some on the way and I'm looking forward to experimenting with them.
Update: I recently tested out various chile combos for Mole sauces. See here.
Spices and Aromatics
The extensive use of spices and aromatics is what sets Mole sauces apart from common Enchilada sauces.
If you're familiar with the recent Beef Birria recipe then you've already got a good snapshot of how a few simple additions (like cloves and cinnamon) can take your sauces into delicious new territory. Before making that Birria I was always skeptical about cloves in Mexican cuisine, but not anymore!
Nuts and seeds
You'll also frequently see nuts and seeds adding some toasty heartiness to these sauces. And raisins too!
Chocolate
And of course, some Mole sauces will finish with chocolate for additional sweetness. You can use any high quality chocolate, or even some of the Mexican chocolate discs.
I should mention that I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so in general you'll probably find that I use less chocolate (and sugar) in these recipes than most peeps -- but a final taste for salt and sugar is always in the cards, so it will be easy to sweeten up these sauces at the end if your palate is craving it.
The Usual Suspects
Most of these Mole sauces will start off with a tomato, onion, garlic combo. Tomatoes are the default, but I might experiment with adding some tomatillos as well.
You'll typically char or roast these veggies before combining them into the sauce.
Does all this sound like a lot of work?!
It's true, at first glance Mole sauces can be intimidating. I used to feel the same way and avoided them for years, but not any more! They are easier than you think and you'll be surprised how satisfying these sauces can be -- even on your first go 🙂
And again...don't sweat it if you can't track down all these ingredients. There will be some leeway on these recipes, so just compare your pantry to the above pics and grab what you can.
Just to give you an idea of how these sauces come together, here's the process for the Mole Coloradito I'm working on.
Start by charring or roasting the tomatoes:
Give the chiles a flash roast and reconstitute them in some hot water:
Char or cook the onion and garlic:
Grind up the spices:
Roast or cook the nuts and seeds:
Combine it all in a blender and fry briefly. Then add stock, final seasonings, and a sliver of chocolate:
So that's an early version of Mole Coloradito in the above pic, but the ratios were a little off in that batch, with the chiles too dominant and covering up the other flavors. It's close though and I hope to have it up on the site in the next couple weeks!
If the Mole Coloradito interests you then here's an initial ingredient list for reference:
Ancho dried chiles
New Mexican dried chiles (or Guajillos)
Roma tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Sesame seeds
Raisins
Cinnamon
Mexican oregano
Cloves
Black peppercorns
Cumin
Almonds
Chicken stock
Chocolate
Salt
Sugar
Oil (or lard)
If you're not venturing out into public much these days then don't rule out Amazon as it has most of the dried goods in that list.
Okay, I hope this post has put Mole on the brain! Feel free to use the comments section below if you have questions about any of these ingredients.
Buen Provecho.
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Cari Zancanelli
I was SO HAPPY to see this post on Mole... I've been waiting for this! Excited to get in there and try them. Thank you for this post!
Patrick
Hey thanks Cari, excited on this end too. Cheers.
Virginia
Hi Patrick! I'm so excited about your upcoming posts on mole! I just ordered some chiles and am planning on finally making this complex and rich culinary sauce that I remember my grandmother making when I was a child. As I recall, the process took about 2 days and was well worth the wait, but unfortunately I did not get her family recipe before her death. I have sampled many moles over the years but never found one that was completely satisfying. I was always intimidated by it's supposed difficulty, but with your help maybe I can conquer it once and for all! I am looking forward to your posts on this subject and to having mole this upcoming holiday season.
Patrick
Thanks Virginia! The grandmother test is always the most accurate test available so I hope these recipes hit the mark for you 🙂 Cheers.
Sean
Awesome! Looking forward to more on mole.
Patrick
Cheers Sean.
Zach
Looks great! Will you posting full recipes at some point?
Patrick
Hey Zach! Yeah I'll be fiddling with them over the next few weeks but will put up full recipes as soon as possible. Cheers.
Joy Hart
Savory and Spice has the Mexican Oregano and boy, oh boy, am I loving it. Gracias for writing about it. It definitely makes a difference. I'm going to gather the mole ingredients to be prepared! Bueno
Patrick
Thanks Joy! Yeah I'm the same as you and always keep the Mexican oregano close by 🙂
Peter
Looking forward to these.
I have been a little daunted by the prospect of making my own mole for some time and just bought ready-made. Although, I did see a recipe for a white mole over here on UK TV this morning which looked simple enough.
Tomatillos are my big problem. Can only get them canned, and then very expensive imported. Even tried growing them myself one year but UK Aphids saw them as a supreme delicacy!
Patrick
Thanks Peter! Yeah I get loads of tomatillo questions from the UK -- someone needs to start a tomatillo business there because they seem quite rare! But for the moles I don't expect them to be a crucial ingredient so you'll be able to get by with canned when needed. Cheers.
Karens
This sauce looks very spicy but fatty from nuts. In my hometown, we usually plant and harvest chili, peanut, sesame, and make feed then store and use when winter comes. But we don't use nut for the sauce. I will try to cook this interesting sauce.
Patrick
Thanks Karen! Yeah I've found the sauces to be much more filling than traditional enchilada sauces -- can easily turn them into a meal 🙂
Tom Evans
Hi Patrick,
Moles have been on my mind for some years now, and this summer I got around to ordering some mole pastes from a Mexican supplier & also a restaurant in LA. I'm excited to see what you come up with, but expect to stick with the prepared pastes, being somewhat lazy. They've done well for me so far.
Tom
Patrick
Thanks Tom! Yeah I hope to eventually put up some recipes for pastes so that you don't have to make it from scratch every time -- will be interesting to see how close the pastes come to freshly made. Cheers.