About Mole

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Title: About Mole
Categories: Help, Mexican
Yield: 1 Text file

Mole (pron. mole-a) is a series of Mexican sauces that
contain ground chiles, spices, nuts, often chocolate,
sometimes raisins, ground seeds, etc.

There are three basic types of moles:

1. Mole Poblano (the most famous type, and the one
that ALWAYS contains chocolate) was originated in
Pueblo during Colonial times (Mexican colonial, not
ours) by the nuns who wanted to make a special dish
for a visiting Archbishop. The sauce contains ground
dried chile peppers, ground nuts, ground raisins,
broth, chocolate, sometimes ground corn tortillas, a
small amount of sugar, and various spices. It is
traditionally served over turkey, with a side dish of
unfilled tamales (just the cornmeal masa steamed in
corn shucks.) It's one of those dishes that rarely
finds its way out of the country of origin, and you
either passionately love or passionately hate. I'd
post a recipe if I could find one (Have recipes for
all three versions floating around SOMEWHERE, but
never got the time to enter 'em into the computer, so
they're a little tough to find). It may also be
purchased pre-made (something I recommend, as the
bottled version is excellent, and this is NOT
something you'd want to attack from scratch on even a
semi-regular basis). If Shirley is interested, I'll
pick up a jar and ship it your way.

2. Mole Verde (green mole) contains green chiles,
broth, ground pumpkin seeds, various herbs and spices.
It's usually served over chicken or pork. Nice stuff,
and much easier for the beginner to like than the Mole
Poblano.

3. Mole Roja (red mole) is a sauce that contains red
chiles, herbs and spices, ground nuts or seeds, ground
corn tortillas, usually no chocolate. I THINK it comes
from the region around Oxaca. Again, it's marginally
easier to like than the more well-known version. It's
usually served over chicken or pork.

All of these dishes are virtual throwbacks to the
complex (and to our palates unusual) combinations of
ingredients that were common in that part of the
country before the arrival of the Spaniards. None of
the dishes is particularly hot, they have a complex,
haunting flavor that speaks of cultures long gone, but
not entirely forgotten.

Don't know if you'd like 'em or not, Unka Burt (I do),
but if you want just a hint of what I'm talking about,
throw a square of unsweetened chocolate in your next
batch of Left-Handed Chili, and let us know what you
think.

From: Kathy Pitts, Bryan, TX

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