4th of August, 2022. At 5am in the morning
Mole Estofado with mushrooms, olives and almonds. Served with tortillas.
The meaning of mole is Nahuatl meaning soft and as seen in the picture is the sauce. However moles come in a large varity and there are over 500 varities with many different colors and ingredients. The difference between a normal salsa is it's thick texture, the high amount of ingredients, that it is cooked over a long period of time and served as the main dish. It is a dish with prehispanic origins and a rich history.
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I had the honor to cook with two traditional chefs, Juan and Petra, who are working on setting up their new sustainable restaurant xhobe (zapoteco for mole) where ingredients will be locally sourced and the recipes will be traditional. Their restaurant will be available XX-XX-XXXX in Miahautlan, Oaxaca.
Ingredients (Main mixture, 10 servings of Mole)
|
|
| 1kg |
Red tomatoes |
| 1 |
Onion |
| 2 |
Garlics |
| 2.5 dl |
Almonds |
| 1 dl |
Raisins |
| 2.5 dl |
Sesame Seeds |
| 5-10 |
Cinnamon Sticks |
| bundle |
Dried Oregano |
| bundle |
Dried Almoradux (optional) |
| 1 kg |
Tomatillos, can be replaced with tomatoes |
| 200g |
Olives |
| 400g |
Mushrooms de zetas |
| 5 tbsp |
Sugar |
| 2.5dl |
Vegetable oil |
| 5 |
Pepper Corns |
| 5 |
Cloves |
| 1 |
Cheesecloth, to filter the mole |
Directions, Mole Estofado
- Crush the two garlic and cut in big slices. Then heat up about 1dl of oil and fry the garlic. Afterwards, remove the garlic from the pan.
- Cut half the onion into slices and fry, then remove it from the pan but keep the oil.
- Grab about 2 dl almonds and fry in the pan until they achieve a darkened color, remove.
- Fry the raisins, they will start to balloon. When completely ballooned, remove.
- Toast the sesame seeds, when the color begins to darken, remove.
- Fry the cinnamon sticks for a few seconds, then remove
- Now, halve the tomatoes and the tomatillos, heat up the rest of the oil in a pot and then throw in the tomatoes. Fry for a few minutes and then throw in all the other previously toasted ingredients along with the cloves, pepper corns, oregano and almoradux.
- Let fry for a few minutes then toss in a glass of water. Toss around the vegetables for a few more minutes.
- Add water and let boil under a lid for 40 minutes.
- Crush or alternatively blend the mixture in a blender. Afterwards, pour the the blended mixture and filter it through the cheese cloth in a different pot. The mole should have a thick, even texture.
- The base is now ready, this base is perfect to store away and reuse for other dishes.
- In a separate pot, heat up some more oil and fry the almonds until darkened, remove. These will be used for serving.
- Dice the rest of the onion and fry until transparent.
- Cut the Z mushroom in 1cm slices and then toss in.
- Add 3dl of water and the let the water soak in the mushroom for 10 minutes.
- Add about 8 tablespoons of the mole pasta and let boil until it achieves a thick texture.
- Add salt to taste, about 2-4 palms of salt.
- Serve with the fried almonds, heated maize tortillas and olives.
The mole can be used in many different ways, you could alternatively also serve it with pickled chilis, huitlacoche, different mushrooms, rice, chickpeas. The only thing you need to add then is also vegetable broth to replace the broth created from the mushrooms.