Green Mole, Black Mole, Yellow Mole, Mole Poblano... So many kinds and so much deliciousness. Mexican Mole (pronounced Mo-Lay) is a rich complex sauce used in Mexican cuisine. The closest thing to it in America is gravy. Although making it is a lot harder then whipping up gravy. It is an all day process where up to 30 ingredients are slowly and by hand ground up and blended into a paste that is sold in mercados across the country.

Time and love goes into this process. Chilis are roasted and nuts are toasted, for flavors that can't be faked but prepared with delicacy. You can buy these in paste form in almost any store here. The name brand that is often sold is Doña Maria. However, the mercados offer home made varieties. The recipes are a lot like the family spaghetti, everyone does their own take, but here is a rough guide to what you can expect.

Mole Negro- Prominent flavor is cocao and chilhuacle negro chili, reulting in a deep brown savory sauce. This is prety common in restaurants.
Mole Verde- Pumpkin seeds are toasted to extract the most delicious flavor as a base along with tomatillos to give it the green color and epazote.
Mole Poblano- Similar to Mole Negro, in the use of chocolate and chilis. While recipes vary in this Mole from Puebla, sometimes charred advacado leaves, onions, garlic, and ground oregano are used as well.
Mole Amarillo- Uses Costeño, Ancho, and Guajillo chiles, green tomatoes and tomatillos, black pepper, onion, garlic, clove, chilcoxle, cumin, cilantro, and either pitiona or hoja santa.

Mole Cacahuate- Toasted peanuts and chilis, most often chipotle. Very, very rich in flavor, usually over chicken. Not everyone can handle this one. It is comparable to a more thin peanut butter sauce with a spiciness.
Mole Mancha Manteles- Because of the strong Ancho chile flavor it is often used over plantains and pineapple.

Last time the traveling mercado was here in January we saw a booth with about 15 different kinds of mole pastes. So there are plenty more to try. Here is an idea to get you started. Our favorite is Mole Verde. It is pretty easy to make too. Of course everyone has their own way to fix it but here is what we enjoy.

Mexican Mole Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons of the paste
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 1/2 cup of onions
• 2 cups thinly sliced chicken
• 1 cup thinly sliced and diced potato
• Water and cicken broth to match
• Milk
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. Pour oil. Add onions and mole paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add chicken and potatoes. Add water and chicken broth to just above the ingredients
3. Let cook for 10 minutes. Stirring.

The sauce will thicken tremendously as it cooks. Slowly stir in milk to the consistency that looks good to you. Some like it creamy like a gravy, and others like with more of a water base. The traditional Mexican recipes don't use milk, but we just love the creaminess it adds to the rich flavors. We put in about as much milk as water.

4. Let simmer while stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. It will thicken as it reduces.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Serve over rice and with tortillas to scoop up.

Just like with your own spaghetti recipe, find how you like to make it. It is sure to be a family favorite. You can also serve moles over enchiladas, tamales, or if you are in America, burritos (Here a burrito is a little donkey... and for the record- it does not taste like chicken, and they don't eat them).

Anyone have any recommendations for mole recipes?

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