Mole Verde Recipes

MOLE VERDE

Steps:

• Place the meat and bay leaf in a large casserole, and add just enough water to barely cover it. Turn heat to medium and cook for about 30 minutes with the lid on. The water will start to reduce, and the meat will start browning on its rendered fat. The slow cooking process will produce a tender meat. If after this period of time your meat still looks though, keep cooking and add a little bit more water as needed.
• While the meat is cooking, place tomatillos in a saucepan*, cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it starts boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer until tomatillos are pale green and soft, about 6-8 minute.o
• Place the cooked and drained tomatillos in a blender with the pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, Serrano peppers, garlic, onion, romaine lettuce leaves, Hoja Santa leaves, cilantro leaves, spices, and 1 cup of water or chicken broth. Process until you have a very smooth sauce. Depending on your blender, you may need to work in batches.
• By this time, the meat should be starting to brown in the casserole. Pour the sauce over the meat and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to avoid the sauce from sticking to the bottom. Once the sauce starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently to allow all the flavors to be absorbed. Add the cubed vegetables and more water as needed.
• Keep slowly simmering until the vegetables are cooked, about 8 minutes. Serve warm with a nice portion of rice and corn tortillas to scoop up the mole sauce from the plate.

TURKEY MOLE VERDE

Steps:

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add pumpkin seeds and toast, stirring constantly, until they swell, pop and turn a deep golden color, 3 to 4 minutes. Spread seeds out onto a baking sheet in a single layer to cool.
• Place sesame seeds in heated pan, and return pan to medium heat. Toast, stirring constantly, until they turn a deep golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Spread them out alongside pumpkin seeds to cool.
• When cool, place pumpkin and sesame seeds in the work bowl of a large blender (or food processor) and grind them into a fine powder. Transfer ground seeds to a medium bowl, add cumin and 1 cup turkey or chicken stock. Stir mixture to make a thick paste.
• Heat a large Dutch oven or similar pot over medium heat, and add neutral oil. When oil shimmers, add seed paste and fry, stirring and scraping constantly, until paste is dry and deep golden in color, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
• In the blender or food processor, purée onion, garlic, tomatillos and 1/2 cup chicken stock until smooth. Add chard, romaine leaves, jalapeños, cilantro and oregano and purée again.
• Return Dutch oven to medium heat, and transfer purée to the Dutch oven. Add in remaining 1/2 cup stock, shredded dark-meat turkey and salt and bring to a simmer, stirring from time to time. Simmer for 15 minutes, then add light-meat turkey and simmer 5 minutes more. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
• Serve with steamed white rice and corn tortillas. Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

MOLE VERDE

Steps:

• First things first, get all of those vegetables chopped and your other ingredients ready to go before you begin! The timing of adding each ingredient is important so you don't want to burn your onions while you're trying to chop the broccoli, okay?!
• Okay, grab an 8-quart pot, add the tablespoon of oil and set on a medium-high burner. Once the oil is hot but not smoking add the onions and potatoes. You want to cook the onions til they just start getting a bit of color. Keep stirring them with a wooden spoon. Bonus points if you have a flat bottom wooden spoon! When the onions are ready, add the sage leaves, bay leaves, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir all that up real good and saute until you can really smell the sage and garlic, 1 to 2 minutes. Now add the water, scrape the bottom of the pot with your spoon to get up all those good bits and bring this up to a boil. Let this boil until your potatoes are soft, about 5 minutes.
• While you wait for the potatoes to get soft you want to set up your blender and a fine mesh strainer over another pot, bowl or container that you'll strain the sauce into.
• When the potatoes are soft, you'll add the Anaheim peppers and broccoli to the pot and stir to combine. Cook until the broccoli stems are just soft, aka al dente. This is a key step so don't get distracted! Put your phone in another room and focus on the vegetables! You want your sauce to be bright green so pay attention. As soon as the broccoli is ready, kill the heat on the pot and add the parsley and sunflower seeds and give it a good stir. Immediately take your pot to where you're going to blend the sauce. Blend the mole in two or three batches, depending on the size of your blender. Remember that your mole is piping hot so make sure to start your blender on low and increase the speed slowly, unless you want mole on your ceiling. As you increase the speed, reserve enough of the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil for each successive batch add the oil to the blender. Let the mole blend on high for about a minute until it's really well blended. As you work each batch you may want to adjust the amount of liquid in the blender. If it seems too thin, then don't add as much of the cooking liquid on the next batch and vice versa. Think rich, silky potato soup you could scoop up with a tortilla.
• Strain each batch through your strainer. You can use a ladle to help push the mole through the strainer and speed things up a bit. After you have blended up and strained all the mole, whisk it together so the final sauce is consistent throughout.
• At this point the mole is ready to serve. If you're making ahead of time, try and get the mole into an airtight container and cooling in the fridge as quickly as possible to keep that bright green color. You can also freeze the mole for that dinner party you're having in a month.

MOLE VERDE

Steps:

• Add the tomatillos, poblano, onion, serrano chiles and garlic to a large preheated comal or cast-iron skillet set over medium heat. Cook everything until lightly charred and soft on all sides, about 20 minutes. The poblano should take the longest to cook, while the garlic cloves will be done in about 5 to 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat a dry small to medium skillet over medium. Once warmed, toast the sesame seeds, stirring constantly, until golden and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the toasted seeds to a large bowl and set aside.
• Toast the pepitas in the same skillet, stirring constantly, until golden, popped and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Add them to the bowl with sesame seeds.
• Toast the almonds in the same skillet, stirring constantly, until lightly seared and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Add them to the bowl with the seeds.
• Toast the bay leaves and cloves until the leaves lightly brown and the cloves become fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add to the same bowl with the seeds.
• Stem and seed the charred chiles, and add them along with the remaining charred ingredients and the toasted ingredients to a blender. Add the romaine, cilantro, epazote, hoja santa (if using) and 2 ½ cups vegetable stock. Blend until almost smooth yet slightly lumpy and textured. Use more of the vegetable stock as needed to smooth out the mixture. If you don't have a high-powered blender, you may need to blend in two batches, adding equal amounts of the wet and dry ingredients to each batch.
• Heat a large, deep pot over medium-low. Once warmed, add the oil. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, carefully add the mole from the blender. There will be some splatter. Stir in the salt and simmer the mole for 15 to 20 minutes, until the flavors meld together, stirring occasionally to make sure the mole doesn't burn at the bottom of the pot.
• Serve with seared mushrooms, tofu steaks or roasted cauliflower, paired with Mexican rice. Extra mole can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week or frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container.

MOLE VERDE: GREEN MOLE

Steps:

• Toast the pumpkin seeds in an ungreased pan, turning them over and shaking the pan from time to time to prevent them from burning. Set them aside to cool and then grind them in an electric grinder to a fine powder. Put 1 1/2 cups of the broth in a blender, gradually adding the tomates verdes, lengua de vaca, hoja santa, chopped epazote, and chiles, blending as smooth as possible.
• Heat the lard in a flameproof casserole in which you are going to serve the mole and fry the blended ingredients, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking; cook for about 25 minutes. Add the rest of the epazote.
• Stir 1/2 cup of the broth into the pumpkin seeds until you have a smooth consistency and gradually stir into the cooked ingredients. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly for 10 more minutes. Take care that the pumpkin seed mixture does not form into lumps; if this happens, put the sauce back into the blender and blend until smooth. Add any remaining broth and salt, to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water to dilute.

MOLE VERDE -- MEXICAN GREEN SAUCE

Steps:

• Toast the pumpkin seeds in an ungreased pan, turning them over and shaking the pan from time to time to prevent them from burning.
• Set them aside to cool.
• Grind them in an electric grinder or blender to a fine powder.
• Put 1 1/2 cups of the broth in a blender, gradually adding the tomatillos, sorrel, hoja santa, chopped epazote, and chiles, blending as smooth as possible.
• Heat the lard in a flameproof casserole in which you are going to serve the mole; fry the blended ingredients, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking for about 25 minutes.
• Add the rest of the epazote.
• Stir 1/2 cup of the broth into the pumpkin seeds until you have a smooth consistency and gradually stir into the cooked ingredients.
• Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly for 10 more minutes.
• Take care that the pumpkin seed mixture does not form into lumps; if this happens, put the sauce back into the blender and blend until smooth.
• Add any remaining broth and salt, to taste.
• If the sauce is too thick, add a little water to dilute.

FISH FILLETS IN MOLE VERDE

Steps:

• Position 1 rack in center and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Finely chop tomatillos in processor. Add cilantro and blend until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup water and next 12 ingredients; blend tomatillo sauce until smooth.
• Place 2 shallow ovenproof bowls on each of 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Divide half of mushrooms among bowls; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Drizzle 11/2 teaspoons oil, then 2 tablespoons tomatillo sauce over each. Top each with 1 fish fillet; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with remaining mushrooms and tomatillo sauce. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon oil over each. Cover baking sheets with foil, sealing sheets at edges. Bake until fish is just opaque in center, about 25 minutes.

GREEN MOLE

Steps:

• Put the chicken pieces, onion, and garlic into a large saucepan; add water or chicken broth to cover and add salt. Add the optional giblets if you are making this with water. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat until the meat is almost tender but still firm, about 25 minutes. (A lot will depend on the quality of the chicken.) If using pork, cook for about 20 minutes longer. Strain, reserving the broth. Reduce or add water to make up to 6 cups (1.5L).
• Put the sesame seeds into an ungreased skillet over medium heat, stirring them constantly until they become a deep golden color, about 5 minutes. Take care not to let them burn. Spread them out on a tray to cool. Put the pumpkin seeds into the pan and stir them until they begin to swell and start to pop around, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. When the seeds are cool, grind the sesame first with the cloves, peppercorns, and allspice to a slightly textured powder. Then grind the pumpkin seeds to the same texture. Transfer both to a bowl and stir in 1 cup (250ml) of the reserved broth to make a thick paste.
• Heat about 3 tablespoons of the lard or oil in a heavy casserole, add the seed paste, and fry over medium-low heat, scraping the bottom of the pan constantly to avoid sticking - if necessary add a little more fat - until dry, shiny, and a rich deep golden color.
• Unless you have a large blender jar you may need to blend the greens in two batches, but try to use the minimum of liquid. Put 1 cup (250ml) of the broth into the blender jar and add the garlic, tomate verde, and chiles and blend fairly smooth. Gradually add half of the greens and blend as smoothly as possible. Add the rest of the greens little by little, with just enough of the broth to enable the blades of the blender to work efficiently.
• Gradually stir the blended ingredients into the fried seed paste over medium heat, stirring the mixture well after each addition. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce starts to reduce and thicken, for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining broth and cook for a further 10 minutes - pools of oil will form around the periphery. Add the meat, adjust salt, and cook for a further 10 minutes. Dilute with more broth or water if desired. Serve with corn tortillas.