The White Whale of Mexican Cuisine: Mole

I'm tied of emails asking if I've learned to make molé sauce. I did some research and found that molé has about 20 ingredients only half of which I recognize the name of. On top of that, every family has their own recipe (think of the religion of BBQ sauce in the South). "Screw that!" said I until a cooking class presented itself.

Here's the skinny-

Chicken:
1 kilo (couple lbs.) quartered chicken
couple cloves of garlic
couple halves tomatoes
couple sticks of dried oregano
half an onion

1) In a pot, cover ingredients with water and simmer for 1/2 an hour. DON'T DRAIN!


Mole:
5 seedless dried ancho chili halves
2 sliced medium tomatoes
a few slices of onion
10 halved tomatillos
1 sliced ripe plantain
3 pan dulce- little sweet loaves of bread (substitute 5 dried tortillas or maybe donuts as a substitute)
3 oz. sweet chocolate
pinch of pepper
pinch of dried oregano
3 tbls. sesame seeds

1) Lightly fry anchos, bread, plantains
2) Remove to a bowl and cover w/ cooking liquid from chicken. Break up ingredients a bit and let soak.
3) Toast sesame seeds, then add the remaining ingredients (including chocolate) and fry until soft

4) Put all the ingredients into a blender and whiz until smooth. You will probably have to do this in batches. Add cooking liquid from chicken as needed.
5) Simmer sauce in pot w/ remaining chicken broth.
6) Stirring add salt and sugar to taste.
7) Add cooked chicken and simmer for 10 minutes.

This is only one recipe. There are thousands out there: black, red, green, white varieties are all over the country. This is a pretty good starter though as all the ingredients are available at any grocery store. Try it, play with it, enjoy it! Just don't buy molé in a jar any more. You have no excuses now.