exican Mole Poblano Sauce. All I know is that I fell in love with it a long time ago. I love the combination of chilies, cocoa, cinnamon, & ground nuts. Years ago I used to buy a special mole mix made by La Victoria. The dry powdery mix came in a small can and was so easy to use. Unfortunately, La Victoria stopped making that product. I've tried other brands of jarred mole pastes, but, even though the flavor was good, the dry & super dense pastes were hard to work with.A few years ago my local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, published a copycat version of the La Victoria mix. Many thanks to Teresa Hoswell of Fair Oaks, CA, who contacted the company and was sent the recipe for making a homemade mole mix.
One of the great things about this mix is that it's so easy to put together. For someone on a low sodium diet, it's a perfect sauce choice. Very flavorful even without salt. It's great made with chicken or turkey. I usually use chicken thighs, but tonight I used chicken half-breasts. In the past I've used turkey thighs and even turkey drumsticks. It's wonderful for using up leftover chicken or turkey. Something to remember after Thanksgiving.
The chicken/turkey is braised until tender and cooked through. I usually add some finely chopped onion that has been sauteed in a bit of olive oil along with 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic. I braise the meat and aromatics in low sodium chicken broth for about 15-20 minutes before adding the mole mix. Then I simmer everything together until the meat is fully cooked and tender, another 15-20 minutes. I remove the meat and simmer the sauce uncovered until it is thickened. Sometimes I'll add a cornstarch slurry. I like to serve mole with brown rice.
Here's the recipe with my notes:
Mole Sauce Mix
La Victoria Copy Cat Recipe/Sacramento Bee
3 tbsp. chili powder (I use an unsalted chili powder mix like Gebhardt or Grandma's)
1 tbsp. finely ground breadcrumbs
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt (I omitted)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp. cocoa
2 tbsp plus 1 tsp. creamy peanut butter (I use Laura Scudder's Old Fashioned Unsalted Natural Peanut Butter)
1 tsp vegetable oil
Mix chili powder, breadcrumbs, sugar, salt, cinnamon, & cocoa together. Blend peanut butter & oil into dry mixture. (I use a fork to blend the peanut butter & oil into the spice mixture.) This mixture may be refrigerated and stored in a tightly covered container. Makes about ¼ cup.
To Make Sauce: Blend the mix and 2 cups chicken broth or water in a saucepan. Simmer uncovered, stirring frequently until thickened as desired.
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7 comments:
I have to confess that I have never had a mole sauce, this sounds so good .. and I like the idea of no or little salt. Bookmarking this one for summer grilled chicken :)
Linda, it's a delicious spicy sauce. One of our favorite local Sacramento area Mexican restaurants serves chicken enchiladas with mole sauce. This sauce tastes almost exactly the same.
I always see recipes for Mole that have like three pages worth of ingredients with a ten step, thirty-six hour prep and cook time, so thanks Mom. It's low-salt, but more importantly, it's easy.
Yup, I really like this recipe. I don't know if you remember me using the canned mole dry mix when we lived in San Jose. I was really upset when La Victoria stopped making it. But I got excited when this recipe appeared in the Bee.
I know what you mean. I get discouraged just looking at the ingredient list of authentic mole recipes. This easy one fits the bill for me.
I am so happy to see your post! My mom made taco sauce with La Victoria's canned mole poblano sauce (1/2 can plus ground beef plus canned crushed tomatoes, a little wine and it's FABULOUS. I bought a case of cans just before they stopped producing, but we haven't had "secret sauce" for years. THANK YOU!
PS I still have an empty can -- occasionally I pull it out and try to track down ingredients. The recipe on the can for chicken Mole is:
2 1/2 lbs chicken pieces
1 can (3 oz) Mole Poblano
Boil chicken in lightly salted water until tender. Drain and reserve broth. Combine 3 cups broth (add water if necessary to make 3 cups) and can of Mole Poblano. Simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently untill smooth and slightly thickened. Add checken and simmer 15 minutes or until heated thoroughly. Makes 4 servings.
The ingredients listed on the can are: chili powder, peanut butter, cracker meal, sugar salt, cottonseed oil, cocoa and cinnamon flavoring.
Lisa, thanks for your comments. I was so upset when I discovered that La Victoria had discontinued the canned mole sauce mix. But this copycat is almost exactly the same. I love mole sauce, and this sauce is especially nice because it's so flavorful that I can eliminate the salt content without any real loss of flavor.
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