Venus Rising

Food for SoulIssue: Aries 09 - Spring Break

Holy Mole!

Watercolor by Philip GaligaMole is often the word used for a dish, commonly chicken, in a special sauce. This sauce has as much stature in Mexico as marinara in Italy or béarnaise in France. Mole, pronounced Mo-lay, comes from the indigenous word “molli,” meaning mixture or concoction. It is a complex sauce made of a combination of chiles, nuts, seeds, various spices, and other aromatics. It is infamous for containing chocolate. Certainly, the first mole is thought to have had chocolate, but over centuries of passing down recipes and individualizing them based on available ingredients, most now do not contain chocolate. However all moles contain lots of ingredients, as many 30, and can take hours, if not days to prepare.

It is believed that mole was first created by nuns for a visiting archbishop in the 1600’s. Stories of the original mole vary vastly, ranging from the nuns pulling out all the stops and using only the best ingredients to nuns panicking because they did not have anything special to serve, so the sauce was born of the random ingredients already in stock. In every story however, the nuns spend a day or more preparing their sauce, which they serve over roasted turkey. From that original mole, a national dish and sauce was born. 

While mole can be found everywhere in Mexico, the state of Oaxaca is famous for it, due to its abundance of local fresh ingredients and amalgamation of indigenous groups. Dubbed the Land of Seven Moles, it is said that if you do not eat mole when visiting Oaxaca, you did not really visit Oaxaca.

All seven sauces are made with chilies, which determine the color and flavor. Mole negro (black mole), the most famous of the “seven sisters” is made with a variety of dark dried chiles including gaujillo, ancho, and pasilla. Along with three additional indigenous chiles, black mole contains a huge list of ingredients including seeds, nuts, raisins, plantains, onions, garlic, chocolate, bread and lard…just to name a few. Not only does it have a vast number of additions, but mole negro is also the most difficult to prepare. Most ingredients are gently toasted or roasted before going into the sauce. Then, the sauce itself simmers long and low, on the edge of burning, making diligent attendance necessary. However, a well cared for mole negro is dark, rich, thick, fragrant, spicy, sweet and a remarkable sauce.

Mole negro represents one end of the mole rainbow. The other sauces span the spectrum and include mole Amarillo, a yellow mole made with green chilies, green tomatoes, tomatillos, cumin, and cilantro. Mole Rojo’s red comes from spicier, brighter red chilies as well as tomatoes and tends to have the most kick. There is also Coloradito, which is brick red and made with mostly ancho chilies giving it a smoky flavor. Chicillo is less common, incorporating spices such as cloves, allspice, marjoram, black pepper, and avocado leaves. Mancha Mancheles contains a heavy dose of ancho chili, with a hue between Rojo and Coloradito. It is made simply and tastes simple, often served on sliced sautéed plantains or pineapple.