After I made the Crabmeat Purse with White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce, Baby Lady got to thinking. She liked the crepes, especially the purse, but felt it needed a sauce on the bottom so when you cut into the purse you would pull the bite through a nice sauce. I felt the purses were fine the way they were served but… Anyway, after giving it careful consideration she decided she wanted to fuse a little Mexican and French cuisines to come up with this dish. It’s good, too, so we thought we would share.

One of the fun things about Mexican food is that the same dish varies from region to region. You have yellow, red, green and black moles from Oaxaca, green, country red moles from Michoacan, the list goes on. This mole recipe comes from the Huasteca region of Mexico and differs from traditional mole (red) with which most everyone is familiar. The Huastecan people are Mayans and historically occupied the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas, Mexico, concentrated along the route of the Pánuco River and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Now, traditional mole uses the Holy Trinity of Chiles, Ancho, Mulato and Pasilla chiles. Huasteco mole uses only Pasilla chiles. Pasilla chile is also known as chile negro. For those unfamiliar with pasilla chile, this is what it looks like.

The flavor of pasilla chile is vastly different from ancho chile. Ancho chile is a ripened, dried poblano chile, a medium hot chile (2,500 – 3,000 Scoville units), that has a rich, fruity, sweet and pungent flavor. The pasilla chile, on the other hand, is a dried chilaca chile, a medium-high hot chile (5,000 – 15,000 Scovile units) that has a rich, mellow flavor that is desirable in cooked sauces, or toasted and crumbled, or ground into a table sauce. Not only is the chile different but this mole is also a tad bit sweeter while still savory. The flavor is more chocolate than dried chile which combines beautifully with the thin crepe. Now don’t get me wrong the dried chile flavor is definitely present it just has a sweetness that couples well with the crepe. It’s a fun and different dish so if you want to try it, here’s what she did.

Ingredients:

• 8 chiles pasilla
• 2 Spoonfuls of oil/lard
• 3 Spoonfuls sesame seeds
• 2 Spoonfuls flour
• 2 cups chicken stock, hot
• 1 small block of dark chocolate, roughly 4 oz
•  piloncillo, 4 small cones or 1 large
• 100 grams almonds, peeled
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• Salt to taste
• 1 chicken, roughly 3.5 lbs, cooked and shredded /pulled

Directions:

Place chicken in crock pot, rub with butter and season the with salt and pepper.

Add 1/2 cup water and cook the chicken on high for 4 hours until the chicken easily pulls from the bone.

Clean the chiles but save the seeds. In a large heavy skillet warm oil at medium heat. Fry the chiles but make sure not to burn them.

Remove from heat and set aside.

In the same oil fry the sesame seeds, and the leftover chile seeds. Remove from heat and set aside.

Using the same oil brown the flour.

Turn off heat and add chocolate, piloncillo, almonds and hot broth.

Allow to rest for 20 minutes so that the chocolate and piloncillo dissolve. Pour all pan contents into blender.

Add chiles, seeds, cinnamon, salt,

and remaining hot broth. Blend until sauce is finely blended but remains slightly thick.

Return half the sauce to the same pan and add shredded/pulled chicken.

Add additional sauce to coat. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat to allow flavors to meld and sauce to thicken. Use remaining sauce if too thick or to pour over chicken to serve.

Cook crepes, receipe found here.

To serve:

Place mole sauce in the middle of the plate. Fill crepe with chicken mole.

Fold crepe and tie with a chive. Place on top of sauce in middle of plate. Serve and enjoy.