Mole Verde

Thickened by pumpkin seeds held in suspension, which is why it must never be allowed to boil once they are in.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

• 200 g raw hulled pumpkin seeds
• 500 g tomatillos, husked and washed
• 3 serrano chillies
• 4 cloves garlic
• ½ white onion
• a large bunch of coriander, stalks and all
• a handful of flat-leaf parsley
• 6 romaine lettuce leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 kg chicken thighs, poached, with 1 litre of their broth
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons oil
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve

Method

1. IT MUST NOT BOIL ONCE THE SEEDS ARE IN OR IT SPLITS, and that single rule governs the whole dish. A mole verde is thickened by ground pumpkin seeds held in suspension -- not by starch, not by reduction -- and a suspension is fragile. Brought to a boil it breaks: the seed solids drop out as grit and a layer of green water sits above them, and nothing whisked, blended or stirred brings it back. Everything from the moment the seed purée enters the pan happens below a simmer, with the surface barely moving.
2. THE SEEDS ARE TOASTED DRY AND MUST NOT COLOUR. They are put on a dry pan over a medium heat and stirred constantly until they puff and pop and smell nutty -- four or five minutes -- and taken off while still pale green. Browned, they turn the sauce khaki and taste bitter, and the whole point of this mole is that it is green.
3. THE HERBS AND THE LETTUCE GO IN RAW AND LAST. Coriander, parsley and romaine blended in at the end, off the heat. Cooked, every one of them turns olive and the sauce goes the colour of pond water within ten minutes. The lettuce sounds odd and is doing real work: it adds green and bulk with almost no flavour of its own, which lets the coriander be tasted rather than merely smelled.
4. THE SEEDS ARE BLENDED WITH COLD LIQUID, NOT HOT. Hot broth in the blender starts the thickening immediately and the purée seizes into a paste the blades cannot move. Cold or cool broth and it goes completely smooth, and the thickening then happens in the pan where it can be controlled.
5. IT IS SERVED THE DAY IT IS MADE. There is no version of this that improves overnight: the green dulls to grey-olive in the fridge and reheating is the exact thing that splits it. This is the opposite of mole poblano, which is better the next day.
6. The pumpkin seeds toasted on a DRY pan over a medium heat, stirred constantly, 4 to 5 MINUTES until they puff and pop and smell nutty. Taken off while STILL PALE GREEN.
7. The tomatillos and chillies simmered in water 8 to 10 minutes, until they turn from bright green to olive. Drained.
8. The cooled toasted seeds blended with 400 ml of COOL chicken broth until completely smooth. Not hot broth.
9. The tomatillos, chillies, garlic, onion and cumin blended separately with 200 ml of broth until smooth.
10. The oil heated in a heavy pot and the tomatillo mixture cooked 8 minutes over a medium heat.
11. THE HEAT TURNED DOWN AS LOW AS IT GOES. The seed purée stirred in.
12. Cooked 20 MINUTES, stirred constantly, NEVER ALLOWED TO BOIL -- the surface must barely move. It will thicken noticeably.
13. The coriander, parsley and lettuce blended RAW with 200 ml of broth and stirred into the pot OFF THE HEAT.
14. The poached chicken added and warmed through on the lowest heat 8 minutes, still without boiling.
15. Tasted and salted. Served at once with tortillas; it does not keep or reheat.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes