Mole Rojo con Pollo — El Almuerzo que se Gana
This is the mole I make when the morning belongs to the kitchen — ancho and pasilla toasted on the comal, cinnamon and clove ground into the sauce, chicken thighs braised until the bone gives up without a fight. My mother made this on market days, and I make it on the days when the people I love are hungry in the deep way, not just the stomach. A mole rojo is not fast and it is not meant to be. #oaxacan mole #chicken #mexican cuisine #slow braise #almuerzo #chile
120
min total
(Prep:
30
| Cook: 90)
4
servings
Chicken, broilers or fryers, thigh, meat and skin, raw
4.0 thigh with skin
Onions, white, raw
150.0 gram
Garlic, raw
6.0 clove
Tomato, roma
400.0 gram
Spices, cinnamon, ground
0.5 stick
Spices, cloves, ground
0.25 tsp
Olive oil
3.0 1 tablespoon
Salt, table
2.0 tsp
Rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, enriched
1.5 cup
Peppers, pasilla, dried
2.0 g
Peppers, ancho, dried
3.0 g
Spices, cumin seed
1.0 g
Nutrition Facts
Energy
3456.9 kilocalorie
Protein
160.7 gram
Mufa 14:1
0.3 gram
Mufa 15:1
0.0 gram
Mufa 16:1
8.0 gram
Mufa 17:1
0.1 gram
Mufa 20:1
0.7 gram
Mufa 22:1 C
0.0 gram
Mufa 24:1 C
0.0 gram
Oleic Acid (Omega-9)
74.2 gram
ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid, Omega-3)
1.1 gram
DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid, Omega-3)
0.1 gram
EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid, Omega-3)
0.0 gram
EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid, Omega-3)
0.0 gram
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6)
23.6 gram
Pufa 18:3 N-6 C,c,c
0.1 gram
Pufa 18:4
0.0 gram
Pufa 20:2 N-6 C,c
0.2 gram
Pufa 20:3 N-3
0.0 gram
Pufa 20:3 N-6
0.3 gram
Pufa 20:4
0.8 gram
Pufa 22:4
0.2 gram
Pufa 22:5 N-3 (dpa)
0.1 gram
Palmitic Acid (C16:0)
33.1 gram
Sfa 10:0
0.0 gram
Sfa 12:0
0.1 gram
Sfa 14:0
0.8 gram
Sfa 15:0
0.1 gram
Sfa 17:0
0.1 gram
Sfa 20:0
0.1 gram
Sfa 22:0
0.1 gram
Sfa 24:0
0.0 gram
Sfa 4:0
0.0 gram
Sfa 6:0
0.0 gram
Sfa 8:0
0.0 gram
Stearic Acid (C18:0)
7.7 gram
Tfa 16:1 T
0.1 gram
Tfa 18:2 T Not Further Defined
0.2 gram
Tfa 22:1 T
0.0 gram
Dietary Fiber
25.6 gram
Lactose
0.0 gram
Maltose
0.0 gram
Sucrose
1.1 gram
Fructose
3.8 gram
Galactose
0.0 gram
Glucose
4.0 gram
Carotene, Alpha
3.5 microgram
Carotene, Beta
1121.1 microgram
Choline
373.9 milligram
Folate (Vitamin B9)
2026.2 microgram
Retinol
177.6 microgram
Vitamin A
17107.2 microgram
Vitamin B-12
4.8 microgram
Vitamin B-12, Added
0.0 microgram
Vitamin B-6
6.1 milligram
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)
2.6 milligram
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
2.9 milligram
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
53.9 milligram
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)
5.6 milligram
Vitamin B7 (Biotin)
1.9 microgram
Vitamin C
78.9 milligram
Vitamin D
24.7 microgram
Vitamin E
10.8 milligram
Vitamin K
28.6 microgram
Vitamins And Other Components
0.0 gram
Calcium, Ca
321.5 milligram
Copper, Cu
1.6 milligram
Iron, Fe
26.8 milligram
Magnesium, Mg
344.1 milligram
Manganese, Mn
5.2 milligram
Phosphorus, P
1829.5 milligram
Potassium, K
4534.7 milligram
Selenium, Se
192.5 microgram
Sodium, Na
5341.6 milligram
Zinc, Zn
14.7 milligram
ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid, Omega-3)
15.4 gram
Alcohol, Ethyl
0.0 gram
Amino Acids
0.0 gram
Arginine
11.0 gram
Ash
25.5 gram
Aspartic Acid
14.8 gram
Betaine
75.7 milligram
Caffeine
0.0 milligram
Carotene, Gamma
8.5 microgram
Cholesterol
756.6 milligram
Cis-lutein/zeaxanthin
0.0 microgram
Cryptoxanthin, Alpha
38.5 microgram
Cryptoxanthin, Beta
76.9 microgram
Cystine
1.9 gram
Fluoride, F
0.2 microgram
Folic Acid
618.8 microgram
Glutamic Acid
24.6 gram
Glycine
8.9 gram
Histidine
4.2 gram
Hydroxyproline
0.0 gram
Isoleucine
6.7 gram
Leucine
12.2 gram
Lipids
0.0 gram
Lutein
224.0 microgram
Lutein + Zeaxanthin
1070.0 microgram
Lycopene
11440.0 microgram
Lysine
12.2 gram
Methionine
3.9 gram
Nitrogen
0.7 gram
Oleic Acid (Omega-9)
0.4 gram
Phytosterols
2.8 milligram
Proline
7.2 gram
Proximates
0.0 gram
Serine
6.5 gram
Theobromine
0.0 milligram
Threonine
6.6 gram
Tocopherol, Beta
0.0 milligram
Tocopherol, Delta
0.0 milligram
Tocopherol, Gamma
0.7 milligram
Tocotrienol, Alpha
0.2 milligram
Tocotrienol, Beta
0.2 milligram
Tocotrienol, Delta
0.0 milligram
Tocotrienol, Gamma
0.2 milligram
Tryptophan
1.6 gram
Tyrosine
5.3 gram
Valine
7.4 gram
Water
1085.7 gram
Zeaxanthin
0.0 microgram
0
Take your ancho and pasilla chiles — three anchos, two pasillas — and tear away the stems and shake out the seeds. Now hold each one over the comal on a hot dry flame, pressing it flat with your fingers for just a breath or two on each side. You are not burning them, you are waking them. When the smell rises up sharp and earthy and makes your eyes blink, they are ready. Lay them in a bowl and pour hot water over them. Let them rest 15 minutes until they are soft enough to fold in your hand like cloth.
1
While the chiles soak, cut your chicken thighs into pieces and leave the skin where it belongs. Heat two tablespoons of oil in your cazuela — clay if you have it, heavy iron if you do not — over medium-high heat. Salt the chicken well. When the oil shimmers and breathes, lay the pieces skin-side down and do not touch them. Six, maybe seven minutes. You will hear them stop spitting and settle into a quiet sizzle — that is the skin going golden. Turn them and give the other side four minutes. Take the chicken out and let it rest on a plate.
2
In the same pot with all those good brown bits still in the bottom, add one more tablespoon of oil. Slice half a white onion and let it soften and color in the fat, about four minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add six cloves of garlic chopped fine and let them toast for one minute — you will smell their strength come up. Then throw in a teaspoon of whole cumin seed and wait for the crackling and the pop. That sound means the seed has opened itself to you. Thirty seconds, no more.
3
Lift the onion, garlic, and cumin out of the pot and put them straight into the blender. Drain your softened chiles and add them in too, along with one cup of the soaking water — that water has flavor, do not waste it. Add four roma tomatoes chopped rough, a half stick of true cinnamon, and a quarter teaspoon of ground clove. Blend everything until it is completely smooth, one full minute of steady work. The color should be the deep rust of dried earth after the first rain.
4
Now you strain. Pour the chile sauce through a fine sieve back into the cazuela, pushing it through with the back of your spoon so all the rough skin and seed husks stay behind. This is not a step to skip — a mole should be silk on your tongue, not something that reminds you of the work that made it. Cook this sauce in the remaining oil over medium heat, stirring without stopping, four to five minutes. It will darken and thicken and smell like the inside of something old and good.
5
Return the chicken to the pot, skin-side up, nestled into the sauce like it belongs there. Pour in enough water or good broth to barely cover — about three cups. Bring it up to a simmer, then lower the flame until it is just breathing, a gentle bubble at the edge. Cover with a lid or a cloth and let it braise for sixty to seventy-five minutes. The chicken is ready when the bone pulls away without any argument, and the sauce coats the back of your spoon and does not drip off easily. Your kitchen will smell like a grandmother lives there.
6
While the mole does its slow work, make the rice. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a separate pot over medium heat and add the dry rice. Toast it, stirring, two to three minutes until the grains turn from white to the color of old ivory and smell faintly of corn. Add three cups of water or broth and a good teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower the flame as far as it will go. Eighteen to twenty minutes, and you do not lift the lid, you do not stir. When the liquid is gone and the rice is tender, take it off the heat and let it sit five minutes before you fluff it with a fork.
7
When the mole has finished, taste it carefully. It should be full and round and deep — the chiles and the warm spices speaking together, not any one of them shouting over the others. Add salt if it needs it. If it is thinner than you like, take the lid off and simmer it ten more minutes until it holds itself. Serve the chicken in its sauce in a shallow bowl with the rice alongside — the rice will drink up what spills over and nothing will be wasted. A wedge of lime on the edge if you have one. This meal is for the long days, and it will carry you through them.
Nutrition Insights
✓
Fat enhances Vitamin A absorption
This recipe includes a fat source, which helps your body absorb the fat-soluble Vitamin A.
Source: NIH ODS – Vitamin A fact sheet
✓
Fat enhances Vitamin D absorption
This recipe includes a fat source, which helps your body absorb the fat-soluble Vitamin D.
Source: NIH ODS – Vitamin D fact sheet
✓
Fat enhances Vitamin E absorption
This recipe includes a fat source, which helps your body absorb the fat-soluble Vitamin E.
Source: NIH ODS – Vitamin E fact sheet
✓
Fat enhances Vitamin K absorption
This recipe includes a fat source, which helps your body absorb the fat-soluble Vitamin K.
Source: NIH ODS – Vitamin K fact sheet
✓
Protects folate
Vitamin C protects folate from oxidative degradation during digestion, preserving more of it for absorption.
Source: Linus Pauling Institute – Folate
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