Mole Sencillo (Simple Mole)

Moles are one of the most famous sauces in Mexico because of their beautifully complex, smoky-sweet-hot flavor, their velvety smooth texture, and their rich, deep color. For most Mexican home cooks, moles are a special-occasion dish that requires a lot of time and ingredients. I wanted to introduce people to an easier mole, one that is not so scary but still has all of the big, bold flavor of the ones with long ingredient lists. So I created a Mole Sencillo—or “simple mole”—with only 10 ingredients and a handful of steps. Think of it as a starter mole, one that will help you master the techniques used in making basically any mole. To get started, you’ll need: chiles, nuts, seeds, a couple vegetables and aromatics, sugar, and chocolate. Feel free to swap out the ingredients listed in the recipe for other nuts or seeds or dried chiles—I like guajillo or pasilla chiles, peanuts or pecans, and chia or flax seeds for a change of pace. Just swap them out 1:1 by weight in the recipe below (since the mass, rather than the volume, will affect the cook time and final texture of the mole). While we use lard in this recipe to add richness and a meaty flavor to the mole, you can make this a vegan dish by using a neutral oil instead of the lard and vegetable stock instead of the water for a bit more oomph. Beyond that, our steps are simple: Char the vegetables and aromatics; fry the chiles, nuts, and seeds; stew everything until the flavors come together. Then blend the stewed mixture until smooth, re-fry to develop even more intense flavor, and stir in some earthy chocolate. That’s it! Once you have mastered these techniques and understand how each step builds layer upon layer of flavor, you will be ready to tackle those 54-ingredient moles—no problem!

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet