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Arepas
Rick A. Martínez
755 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
755
10 minutes
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Prepare a grill for high heat, or place a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 475 degrees. (An outdoor grill is preferable. If you use an indoor oven, your kitchen will get very smoky, so keep the vent on and your windows open — and you might want to disable your smoke alarm.)
On a sheet pan, grill or roast the chiles until completely black, slightly puffed and resembling charcoal, 10 to 15 minutes. (They will appear inedible, but this is an essential Mexican technique of incinerating an ingredient and then using the rinsing method — outlined in Step 3 — to remove any bitterness.) Set aside to cool.
Transfer the cooled chiles to a large heavy pot, fill the pot with water and stir vigorously. Drain through a colander, discarding the water, and return the chiles to the pot. Repeat 2 more times. Cover the chiles with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. This step is critical. Drain through a colander, discard the water and set chiles aside until ready to use. Wipe the pot dry but no need to wash.
Meanwhile, place the plantain half on a small rimmed baking sheet and roast at 475 degrees until the peel is very dark, 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle; remove and discard peel. Set aside until ready to use.
Line a large cast-iron skillet with a sheet of foil and heat the skillet over high. Add the tomatoes, tomatillos, onion and garlic to the hot, foil-lined pan and cook, using tongs to turn occasionally, until everything is charred on all sides, about 3 minutes for the garlic, 6 to 8 minutes for the onion and tomatillos, and 8 to 10 minutes for the tomatoes. Transfer to a plate to cool. Once cool enough to handle, peel the garlic.
Heat 1 tablespoon lard in the same large, heavy pot over medium-high and fry almonds, peanuts, canela, cloves, anise, allspice, peppercorns and pumpkin seeds, stirring occasionally, until browned and seeds begin to pop, about 2 minutes. Add raisins, sesame seeds, cumin, thyme, oregano and avocado leaf, and cook, stirring constantly, until raisins are puffed and herbs are beginning to toast and are very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chiles, plantain, charred vegetables, tostadas, chicken stock and salt to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a low simmer and cook until the chiles and nuts smash easily when pressed on the side of the pot, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and set the pot aside to cool slightly before blending.
Working in batches if necessary, carefully blend the chile mixture and liquid until as smooth as possible. Transfer to a large bowl, stirring to combine each new addition.
Rinse and dry the pot, set it over medium-high, and heat the remaining 2 tablespoons lard until very hot. Carefully but quickly, pour the blended mole into the hot lard and immediately cover; it will spit and sputter, so an apron and long sleeves are a good idea. After the bubbles have slowed, stir, scraping up any fried bits from the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, until the mole is glossy and the consistency of gravy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the chocolate and remove from the heat. Continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Taste and season with salt if desired.
Serve over chicken and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is indeed very similar to the one I learned in Oaxaca ( Im a professional chef) I think the time 2h15 is very optimistic though. Just gathering the ingredients is already a tremendous task in itself! What mexican chef do is they make big quantities once in a while and freeze some of it to make it worth their time. In Mexico they grind it instead of blending it, I think it is quite important to increase flavour and a smoother texture.
I found every single ingredient at Mexican stores in west Michigan. It is not “impossible”. You can watch Rick make this in a NYT article, if you need guidance.
If you ever see a recipe for Mole that doesn't look like Santa's list, keep scrolling. Mole is a complex sauce that requires a good deal of ingredient-gathering & an equal amount of work. The resulting sauce is luxurious & tantalizing to the tongue. This recipe is a great deal like one I made back in the late 80's. If you don't have the time to prepare an authentic mole, have it in a restaurant but understand that if you attempt this sauce at home, you'll be at it a while.
I bought some just now because I want to make this recipe for the Thanksgiving Day dinner turkey. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ElCaprichoMex7
Have always wanted to try making mole negro since I had a wonderful one during a trip to Mexico years ago. The biggest problem was finding the chilhuacle negro chiles - I could get everything else where I live. Tried substituting other things, but the taste was never the same. Thank you Henry Musikar, for the link to Etsy. I will also try making it once I receive my Etsy order. Will report once I make it.
Comments like those of Mary Young are annoying to say the least. Yes, many of us have travelled to and even lived in Mexico and experienced their exquisite local cuisine. But to say that any of their true dishes can only be tasted in Mexico is over simplistic. Yes, the flavor will probably never be the same but one should not be discouraged from trying. And if you are a true amateur chef such as I am, you will try to adjust the recipe over and over again until you reach your own perfection.
Well, I put my chiles on the grill for 5 minutes and they looked like charcoal. They actually were over cooked and didn't really rehydrate after 3 good rinses and a boil. I carried on, hoping that they would work but it didn't turn out. After watching the video, I could see that the chiles Mr. Martinez used were more pliable and mine were fairly brittle so I will give it another try because, well, mole! Will report back.
Careful not to over-char your peppers. The taste on this is unique and delicious! What a fun project, your whole house will smell amazing.
Yes the elimination of the tree nuts will change the flavor and consistency A BIT but this is a health issue. If your family can eat other seeds (sunflower, pumpkin) you could easily substitute them. It won’t be identical but it will be your own, which is true of all moles. Hope this helps!
The chiles in this recipe are dried, not fresh. See the headnote: "The color and flavor come from nearly incinerating the chilhuacles negros, the native dried chiles used for the base."
How does one stem and seed a dried chile, and then roast it? Every dried chile I've ever handled cracks, crumbles, and falls apart at the slightest touch. I am obviously missing something, can someone please help? :) Thank you in advance.
Well, I put my chiles on the grill for 5 minutes and they looked like charcoal. They actually were over cooked and didn't really rehydrate after 3 good rinses and a boil. I carried on, hoping that they would work but it didn't turn out. After watching the video, I could see that the chiles Mr. Martinez used were more pliable and mine were fairly brittle so I will give it another try because, well, mole! Will report back.
Serious question: Would somebody please explain the photo? Is the sauce covering a cut-up chicken/turkey? (If it was whole bird, leg wouldn’t be sticking out.)
The mole sauce is smothering what appears to be a chicken leg quarter, though it could be a turkey leg. Wild turkeys were indigenous birds of Mexico and were traditionally served with mole.
How to substitute dried chiles? Can't find fresh ones where i live. I just tried looking at other recipes & plugging into this one.
The chiles in this recipe are dried, not fresh. See the headnote: "The color and flavor come from nearly incinerating the chilhuacles negros, the native dried chiles used for the base."
If you ever see a recipe for Mole that doesn't look like Santa's list, keep scrolling. Mole is a complex sauce that requires a good deal of ingredient-gathering & an equal amount of work. The resulting sauce is luxurious & tantalizing to the tongue. This recipe is a great deal like one I made back in the late 80's. If you don't have the time to prepare an authentic mole, have it in a restaurant but understand that if you attempt this sauce at home, you'll be at it a while.
I live in rural Mississippi and have only found the peppers for the recipe in dried form. Is it possible to make a successful mole from dried peppers?
If I understand correctly, the peppers used in this recipe are dried. I learned how to make black mole while in Oaxaca, and we used dried chilis.
Im curious if one can try to repeat some of the greatness with dried chilies. Please advise.
I believe the recipe here calls for Dried Chilis. I was taught to make mole negro by a chef in oaxaca and they only used dried.
Wow! Just finished making this for Thanksgiving. It’s already a huge hit! Thank you for laying out the recipe so clearly. I’ve always wanted to make mole, but was overwhelmed by the task. Definitely roast the chiles outside. Make sure to setup the nuts and spices in bowls, together according to when they go in the lard (I think next time I will use a vegetable oil). We had a special brick of chocolate brought back by a family member from Oaxaca, so that’s what we used.
What is it that you grind rather than blend?
this wonderful recipe and accompanying video tutorial resulted in plates, pans, and spatulas licked clean! a local market sold many of the ingredients, but I confused a pack labelled "chiles negro" (synonymous to pasilla chiles) for chilhuacle negro chiles, which is an excuse to make this again. I don't have blender as strong as a Vitamix so used a food processor and a mesh strainer for a smooth sauce. this paired with duck confit was divine.
Thanks to Henry Musikar I bought chilhuacle chiles from El Capricho on Etsy. The rest of the ingredients I was able to get from a local Mexican market. I roasted the chiles at 465 for 9 minutes. I might do 8 minutes next time. Lots of smoke. I used my food processor to blend since it is stronger than my blender. The result was tasty. It was an all-day project.
I try recipes like this to learn something new, and while the overall process was fun and engaging (especially the aromas), the resultant sauce was inedible to me. I'm not sure what went wrong but it came out being very gritty and extremely acrid. I followed all steps, with great care during the rinsing. Perhaps I overcharred my peppers or perhaps my blender wasn't powerful enough, but the sauce wound up looking and tasting like a slurry of ash and coffee grounds. Not sure what went wrong.
Had the exact same problem. This is totally inedible. I watched the video, did everything like the video said, & even rinsed the charred peppers an extra time b/c the water wasn’t clear. Not sure how it went to badly wrong.
Comments like those of Mary Young are annoying to say the least. Yes, many of us have travelled to and even lived in Mexico and experienced their exquisite local cuisine. But to say that any of their true dishes can only be tasted in Mexico is over simplistic. Yes, the flavor will probably never be the same but one should not be discouraged from trying. And if you are a true amateur chef such as I am, you will try to adjust the recipe over and over again until you reach your own perfection.
Does anyone know if this will work okay with coconut oil or margarine rather than lard for a vegetarian/vegan/kosher/halal-friendly version?
So if buying the dried chiles - do u reconstitute them And char or use the dried ?
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