Chicken Mole

This is definitely more work than I generally accept from a slow cooker recipe, but, well first of all, it’s from Martha and the woman is kind of an over-achiever like that. And the “dark chocolate” part caught my attention. And Husband likes spicy chocolate and Mexican food, and so I stepped outside my throw-everything-in-the-pot-and-go comfort zone to try it.

It’s delicious.

And there were leftovers, as always, and we ended up feeding the leftovers to some real Mexicans (who said it was good, but I don’t know if I believe them). One of those Mexicans was, thus, inspired to make us some mole, “the way mom makes it,” (i.e. no chocolate and much spicier) so we could try it.

Any meal that yields – even in a weird round-about way – authentic Mexican food “the way mom makes it,” is a winner in my book. So while I can’t guarantee those results … try sharing this with your Mexican friends and maybe they’ll take pity on you and bring you real Mexican food too. Worth a shot.

If they don’t, this is still pretty delicious. Recipe after the break. 

You’ll need:

• 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1, 28-oz can whole tomatoes
• 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 2 dried ancho peppers*
• 1 large chipotle chili in adobo sauce**
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted***
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (1/2 cup)****
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Cilantro for serving

You’ll do:

1. Season chicken thighs with salt and place in slow cooker.
2. Puree everything else, except the cilantro, in a blender until smooth, and pour over the chicken.
3. Cook 4 hours on High or 8 hours on Low until chicken is tender.

Over rice and under cilantro is great.

* Ancho peppers are dried poblano peppers, so it’s kind of redundant to call them “dried ancho peppers,” Martha. My white-person grocery store didn’t have these (they do now, though, I saw them a couple days ago in their fancy new stand in the produce section and shook my fist at them), so I got the hottest dried pepper I could find and used that.

** Don’t let the description fool you, “large” is a relative term, after all. These are small, and they come in a small can. So if, like me, you’re scanning the unfamiliar shelves in the tiny “Mexican” section of your white, suburban grocery store, read all those little cans. It’s one of those. I was looking for something bigger and I almost missed them.

*** Look for this in the baking section, not in the produce section. Our grocery store has huge bags of almonds and sliced almonds in the produce section, and they want a pretty penny for them. (I guess if you have some use for an extra pound of sliced almonds, go for it, but I did not.) The baking section, though, will probably have little 1/2-cup bags of different nuts. Probably more expensive per almond slice, but cheaper overall.

(Aaand, if you’ve never toasted almond slices before, lay some parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread out your nut slices. Slip them in the oven on 250 until they’re … toasted.)

**** This is the part I regret. No one finely chops dark chocolate for you. There is no three ounce bag of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate. At least not around here. I ended up buying a four ounce dark chocolate bar, eating one row of three squares, and chopping the rest of it … finely. Which is difficult, really, especially with a sleeping infant strapped to the front of you.

Too busy to cook? Me too. My Slow Cookin’ Pinterest board is here. Got a good slow cooker recipe? Post a link in the comments for us!