Holy Mole

Gentle Reader, I've found the solution to keeping hydrated when the weather's hot: Make spicy dishes. The heat of chiles may not be appealing when it's hot, so how do I solve that problem?

Quite simple, Gentle Reader. Add chocolate.

Cocoa powder, to be specific. Yes, Gentle Reader, I've finally ventured into new territory--mole.

If you never knew that mole was a dish, then...get out more, Gentle Reader! Or perhaps you already know what mole is and know that it's a fabulous Mexican dish that uses cocoa. As I learned from Wiki, mole is just "the generic name for several sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces. In English, it often refers to a specific sauce which is known in Spanish by the more specific name mole poblano."

And whether you call it mole or mole poblano, I've never eaten the dish, nor has the husband. Truth be told, I didn't know what mole is until last summer, when Joy visited and she and her husband shared it when we went out to eat. The dish intrigued me, but not enough to seek out an opportunity to try it myself until a few weeks ago, when MyRecipes.com sent me an email with a series of recipes featuring chocolate that included one for chicken mole. The ingredients I usually have on hand, so I bookmarked the recipe and bided my time.

Mexican Chicken Mole3/4 C chopped green bell pepper
1/2 C chopped onion
1 T vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T sugar
3 T unsweetened cocoa
1 T chili powder
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
1 14.5-oz. can no-salt-added whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 4.5-oz. can chopped green chiles, drained
3 skinned, boned chicken thighs, 4-oz. each
3 skinned, boned chicken breast halves, 4-oz. each
1/4 t salt
1 T water
2 t cornstarch
6 C hot cooked rice
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

1. Combine the chopped green pepper and onion with the garlic and oil in a 2-quart casserole.
   
2. Cover with heavy-duty plastic wrap, vent and microwave at high for 4 min. or until tender.
   
3. Add the sugar, cocoa, cumin, chili powder, salt, tomatoes and chiles, stirring well.
   
4. Arrange the chicken over the tomato mixture, and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
   
5. Cover and microwave on high for 8 min., rearrange the chicken, spoon the tomato mixture over the chicken, then cover and microwave on high for 8 min. again or until the chicken is done.
   
6. Remove the chicken from the dish, set it aside and keep warm.
   
7. In a small bowl, combine the water and cornstarch, stirring until blended, then add it to the tomato mixture.
   
8. Microwave the tomato mixture, uncovered, on high for 5 min., stirring after 2 1/2 min.
   
9. Serve the chicken and tomato mixture over the rice, garnishing with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 piece of chicken, 1/2 cup sauce and 1 cup rice)

Nutritional Info
Calories: 409
Fat: 6.7 g
Sat fat: 1.6 g
Protein: 30.5 g
Carbs: 54.8 g
Fiber: 2.1 g
Cholesterol: 78 mg
Sodium: 428 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
This recipe was originally published in Cooking Light back in May 1995. Yes, Gentle Reader, this recipe is 14 years old. Perhaps that explains the method used. I mean, microwaving as a legitimate means of cooking hadn't yet become verboten back then, for the phenomenon of foodies and Martha Stewart, the slow foods movement and the movement to reclaim the kitchen from ourselves hadn't yet gathered steam back in '95. Hell, I was just a year out of high school when this recipe hit newsstands. We've come a long way, baby....

You can probably already presume, Gentle Reader, that I didn't follow the instructions for preparation. While I do think that microwaving as a method of cooking--as opposed to a convenient means of reheating leftovers--does probably destroy some of the nutritional value of the foods nuked (moreso than more conventional cooking methods), I choose not to use my microwave much because, well, what exactly is "high" on a microwave? There is no standard. You can't quantify the temperature as you can with a conventional oven, and you can't feel and quickly adjust the temperature of a microwave as you can when using a stove top burner.

If you want to follow in my footsteps, here's what I did:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of veggie oil in a nonstick skillet, then saute the chopped onion, green pepper and garlic until tender. (Ideally, you'd probably want to put the onion in first, then the garlic after a little time has passed, then the green pepper. I didn't because I'd stupidly stored my chopped onion and pepper in the same bowl, thus I just dumped them in at the same time.)
   
2. Lower the heat slightly, then add in the sugar, cocoa, cumin and chili powder, stirring to combine and to scrape off anything that sticks.
   
3. Add the tomatoes and green chiles, stir, increase the heat and let the concoction come to a gentle simmer.
   
4. Place the chicken pieces in the skillet, spooning some of the tomato-chocolate concoction atop.
   
5. Let the mole continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through (about 10 to 15 min., depending on the size and thickness of the chicken).
   
6. Serve atop a bed of rice, and garnish with chopped cilantro, if desired.

As you may have noticed, I didn't remove the chicken at any time, nor did I add the cornstarch to thicken the tomato concoction. After all that quality simmering time, I didn't feel the mole needed a thickening agent.

Just a few other futzings of note:

• I used Clabbergirl sugar replacer instead of regular sugar.
  
• I didn't sprinkle the chicken with a quarter-teaspoon of salt after I put it in the skillet.
  
• I thawed two large boneless, skinless chicken breasts then cut them in half. Forget the thighs.
  
• I prepared basmati rice. I was this close to preparing lime-cilantro rice, the stuff we make every Wednesday for Burrito Night using jasmine rice, but I didn't want it to potentially interfere with the flavor of the mole, having never tasted mole before.
  
• Even though I bought a fresh bunch of cilantro at HEB today, I didn't chop any up. I was busy trying to slice up some slightly frozen strawberries for strawberry granita. (More on that later.)

So how did my first encounter with mole go, you ask, Gentle Reader? It was quite satisfying and tasty! I'm not sure if the dish is supposed to have a definite taste of cocoa, even if it's somewhat subtle, but I will say that my mole didn't have a cocoa taste, even though you could detect it when you took a whiff. Does that disappoint me? Maybe a little. Honestly, it makes me very interested in trying a "properly" prepared mole poblano at a local restaurant so that I have a frame of reference. I mean, how authentic can this version of mole be when it came from a dieter-friendly cooking publication that called for it to be microwaved?

For dessert tonight, I'd planned to have strawberry granita ready. However, I did not recall as clearly as I thought I did how much time's needed in its preparation, so the husband and I won't be enjoying it tonight. Maybe tomorrow night.

To wrap up this post, I'll share with you some pictures of today's culinary misadventure. If they make you hungry, Gentle Reader, then they've done their job!