Mole Amarillo
User Reviews
5
14 reviews
Excellent
-
Prep Time
1 hr
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Cook Time
10 mins
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Servings
8
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Calories
103 kcal
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Course
Main Course, Condiments
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Cuisine
Mexican
Mole Amarillo
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Mole Amarillo is a traditional sauce made from rehydrated dried chiles, charred vegetables like onion, garlic, and tomatillos, and a blend of spices such as allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. It is simmered with chicken stock and lard to develop deep, complex flavors, optionally thickened with masa harina.
Description
Mole Amarillo combines dried chiles soaked to soften with charred ingredients including onion, garlic, and tomatillos or fire-roasted tomato sauce. The aromatic blend is enhanced by toasted spices like allspice, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, cumin, and Mexican oregano. The sauce is cooked slowly in chicken stock with lard to soften flavors and body.
The drink is rich and layered with smoky, sweet, and warm spice notes typical of traditional Mexican moles. The optional use of masa harina allows thickening to achieve the desired consistency for serving with meats or other dishes.
This mole sauce can be used as a rich topping or stew base, bringing complex tastes and balanced heat to complement meat or vegetable dishes. It takes preparation and some time but rewards with a traditional, flavorful yellow mole experience.
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Ingredients
- 2 to 3 ounces dried chili see headnotes for types, stemmed and seeded
- 1 onion white, quartered
- 5 cloves garlic unpeeled
- 3 tablespoons tomatillo puree about 4 large tomatillos
- 1 pint tomato sauce fire-roasted if possible
- 10 allspice or 1/2 teaspoon ground, berries
- 8 clove or 1/4 teaspoon ground, whole
- 20 peppercorn or 1/2 teaspoon ground
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin ground
- 2 teaspoons oregano dried, Mexican
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 cups chicken stock or water
- 3 tablespoons lard
- masa harina optional, for thickening
Instructions
- Start by putting the chiles in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Cover the bowl to let them rehydrate, about 20 to 30 minutes. Don't let them soak more than 1 hour or they can become bitter.
- Meanwhile, get a comal hot, or a heavy frying pan if you don't have a skillet, and char the onion and garlic. If you are using whole tomatillos because you don't have puree on hand, husk and char them, too. Ditto for tomatoes if you don't have tomato sauce. You will need about 8 Roma tomatoes, halved and charred, to equal about 1 pint of fire-roasted puree.
- Once they've been charred, put the tomatillos in a blender. Roughly chop the onion and peel the garlic, then put those in the blender, too. If you've hand roasted the tomatoes, they go into the blender as well. If not, pour in the premade tomato sauce.
- As the vegetables are charring and the chiles are soaking, toast the allspice, cloves and peppercorns in a hot, dry skillet until you can smell them. Move to a mortar and pestle with the salt. Crush the bay leaf as small as you can with your hands, then put it in the mortar. Add the ground cumin, cinnamon and oregano. Grind all of this to a powder and add to the blender. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can use a spice grinder.
- Add the rehydrated chiles to the blender. Taste a little of the soaking water: If it's not bitter, add 1 cup. If it is bitter, toss it. Either way add 2 cups of the chicken stock; you'll want the third cup of stock if the soaking water was bitter. Puree this.
- Optional step: Pour the sauce into a fine-meshed strainer set over a bowl and push it through with a rubber spatula, discarding the solids that won't go through the strainer. This reduces bitterness and makes a smoother sauce.
- Get the lard hot in a sauce pot set over medium-high heat. Pour the sauce in all at once. It will spatter, so start stirring it vigorously to incorporate the fat. It should absorb it. Drop the heat to low and stir until the sauce is just barely bubbling.
- Optional step: If the sauce is thinner than you want it, whisk in masa -- the actual dough, not masa harina -- a knob at a time until it is as thick as you want it. If you only have masa harina, follow the directions on the package to hydrate if before adding to the sauce.
- Don't let the mole boil, but heat it through about 5 to 10 minutes. Keep it warm, not simmering, for service.
Nutrition Information
Show Details
Calories
103kcal
(5%)
Carbohydrates
12g
(4%)
Protein
4g
(8%)
Fat
5g
(8%)
Saturated Fat
3g
(15%)
Cholesterol
11mg
(4%)
Sodium
964mg
(40%)
Potassium
453mg
(10%)
Fiber
4g
(16%)
Sugar
6g
(12%)
Vitamin A
2279IU
(46%)
Vitamin C
9mg
(10%)
Calcium
31mg
(3%)
Iron
2mg
(11%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 8Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 103 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 103kcal | 5% |
| Carbohydrates | 12g | 4% |
| Protein | 4g | 8% |
| Fat | 5g | 8% |
| Saturated Fat | 3g | 15% |
| Cholesterol | 11mg | 4% |
| Sodium | 964mg | 40% |
| Potassium | 453mg | 10% |
| Fiber | 4g | 16% |
| Sugar | 6g | 12% |
| Vitamin A | 2279IU | 46% |
| Vitamin C | 9mg | 10% |
| Calcium | 31mg | 3% |
| Iron | 2mg | 11% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Genuine Reviews
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
14 reviews
Excellent
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