Here is a quick but tasty version of chicken with mole sauce (or "mold sauce," as it appears on the menu of one of our favorite Mexican restaurants). It looks like a dauntingly long list of ingredients, but they come together fast.
Puebla-Style Chicken Mole
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 stemmed dried seeded ancho chiles, torn into 2" pieces (about ¼ cup)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped tomato (about 1 medium)
¼ cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted
3 (½ x 2") orange rind strips
¾ lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
¾ 4 lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs
½ oz. unsweetened chocolate
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes or until almost tender. Combine cumin, coriander, and cinnamon in a small bowl; sprinkle over onion in pan. Cook 1 minute. Add chiles and garlic to pan; cook 2 minutes or until chiles soften. Add broth, tomato, raisins, almonds, and rind to pan; bring to a boil. Add chicken to pan; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; shred with 2 forks. Set aside.
Add chocolate to chile mixture; let stand until chocolate melts. Using an immersion blender in pan, purée the chocolate mixture until smooth. Cook over medium heat 20 minutes or until reduced to 3½ cups. Add shredded chicken to sauce; stir in salt and pepper.
I served it over Yellow Rice and Peas:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup long-grain white rice (I had only medium-grain on hand; worked fine.)
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup frozen green peas, thawed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Heat oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until softened, 3–4 minutes. Add rice and turmeric and stir to coat rice. Add broth and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until broth is absorbed and rice is just tender, about 20 minutes.
Stir in peas and beans. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.
To accompany this meal, we watched "Erin Brockovich," which I was fully prepared to hate, for any number of reasons (don't think much of Julia Roberts, am sick of "Norma Rae" type stories/heroines, etc.). Well, at the risk of losing any movie-reviewing gravitas I may have had, I liked it! I really liked it! Julia Roberts endeared herself to me as Erin Brockovich, and I was willing to buy into the whole stereotyped portrayal and totally predictable plotline. Go figure.
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