Chicken mole

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 carrots
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 1 onion
  • 25 grams unsalted peanuts
  • 1 whole free-range chicken

Mole sauce

  • 4 dried ancho chillies
  • 2 fresh red chillies
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves garlic cloves
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ ground coriander
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 50 grams unsalted peanuts
  • 2 tbsp runny honey
  • 50 grams 85% dark chocolate
  • 1 tomato ripe

Pickled Cabbage

  • 500 grams red cabbage
  • 5 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds

Instructions
 

  • Peel and roughly chop the carrots, roughly chop the celery and peel and halve the onion. Toast the peanuts in dry pan until golden, then finely chop.
  • Place the chicken in a large saucepan and cover with water. Add the carrot, celery and onion halves, and season with sea salt and black pepper.
  • Place the pan over a medium heat and, as soon as the water begins to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and poach the chicken for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until tender and cooked through.
  • To make the tacos, place the flour and 1 pinch of sea salt in a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour 2 tablespoons of oil and 175ml of cold water into the well, stirring in the flour until it comes together into a rough dough – you may need to add a splash more water to help it along.
  • Turn out onto a flour-dusted surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until elastic and smooth.
  • Roll into a sausage shape, 45cm long, then slice into 20 equal-sized pieces. This step ensures your tacos will be all the same size.
  • Roll each piece into a ball, and set aside until you are ready to cook them. If you’ve made the dough a little while in advance, cover with a damp tea towel to stop it drying out.
  • Remove the chicken from the pan and leave to rest for 10 minutes (keep the resulting stock in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer for another day).
  • While the chicken is poaching, make the mole sauce. Put the dried ancho chillies in a small saucepan and cover with water. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the hob and leave to cool completely.
  • Halve and finely slice the fresh chillies, then peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Toast the peanuts until golden.
  • Place a medium non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat and add a good splash of oil. Add the onion, garlic and red chillies to the pan and sauté for 10 minutes, until softened but not browned.
  • Stir in the cinnamon, cumin, coriander and oregano, fry for 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
  • Once the ancho chillies have cooled, remove and discard their stems, then place them into a blender. Blitz with a splash of the chilli water until you have a paste, then spoon in the sautéed onion mixture.
  • Add the 50g of peanuts, the honey and the chocolate, and splash in a little more of the chilli water. Roughly chop and throw in the tomato, season generously with sea salt and black pepper, then blitz everything together until you have a thick paste, adding more water if need be.
  • For the pickle, shred the cabbage as finely as you can, either using a mandoline (use the guard!), a fine slicer attachment on a food processor or the slicer side of a box grater.
  • Toss with the red wine vinegar in a mixing bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Grind the fennel seeds to a powder in a pestle and mortar, and stir through.
  • Once the chicken has rested, discard the skin, shred the meat and toss it through the mole sauce. Scatter over the chopped nuts.
  • Serve alongside the mole with the pickled cabbage on the side.
original recipe