Chicken Mole Poblano

Chicken Mole Poblano is a Mexican cuisine cooked with chocolate, sesame seeds and almonds. The dark, thick sauce spread over chicken or turkey makes a rich sumptuous treat to savour. As opposed to the much spiced Indian curry, Mole Poblano is very low in spices with the dark color contributed by bitter dark chocolates. Chocolate is essential to the dish, so even if you don't like chocolates (who doesn't btw?) you must add some if you want to concoct Mole Poblano.

I added this recipe to my kitty during our Yercaud trip when we stayed for a night in an exotic resort owned by Mr.Visu Kaliyappa. He had an awesome collection of recipe books gathered from all over the world. Me and my friend took our turns to capture some of the recipes that caught our fancy in our cameras. Along with many other things, this Chicken Mole Poblano is one of the recipes we picked up in our treasure of memories.

Ingredients:                              Cooking time: 45 minutes ü  700 gm boneless chicken (chopped) ü  1 onion (chopped) ü  2 large tomatoes (blanched, peeled and chopped) ü  3 garlic cloves (finely chopped) ü  2 ancho chillies (deseeded and chopped) ü  Black pepper powder, taste wise ü  Salt to taste ü  1 tbsp sesame seeds ü  1 tbsp chopped almonds ü  2 tbsp raisins ü  1/2 tsp cinnamon powder ü  1/2 tsp ground cloves ü  1 tsp cumin powder ü  1 tbsp peanut butter ü  350 ml chicken stock ü  25 gm plain dark chocolate (with little or no sweetness at all) ü  White oil for cooking (You may use olive oil also) Method: 1) Heat oil in a wok. When oil turns hot, toss in the chicken and brown on all sides. When done, take them off the flame and set aside. 2) Into the same oil, add garlic, onion and chillies and shallow fry till onion turns translucent. 3) Next add almonds and sesame seeds followed by the spices - black pepper powder, cinnamon powder, ground cloves and cumin powder. Sauté for couple of minutes. 4) Add the tomatoes, raisins, chicken stock, peanut butter and chocolate. Combine well and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat till tomatoes soften and all the ingredients assimilate. 5) Turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture into a blender and process until smooth. 6) Return the mixture to the wok, add the chicken and bring to a boil. Cook covered on medium heat till chicken is tender, adding more water if necessary. 7) Serve garnished with sesame seeds. Enjoy the dish with rice or tortilla bread.