This month’s Irish Food Bloggers’ Association Cookalong theme was chocolate.
Anyone who follows this blog will know that we don’t do too many desserts but we got the Green and Black’s Chocolate book – Unwrapped – out with enthusiasm anyway. Flicking through the many fabulous looking desserts we came across this Chicken Mole, a savoury South American dish with chocolate sauce.
To be honest we weren’t too sure if we’d like the result and to be really honest we didn’t. I’ve used a square of chocolate in a big pot of chilli before and there is no doubt it can add a bit of character. This recipe uses 75g of dark chocolate and was a bit much we thought.
Having said that all four of us cleared our plates and two even had seconds so it wasn’t that bad, maybe just not quite to our tastes. Interesting nonetheless and we made a cracking guacamole to serve on the side (which we shall blog about later) with some tortilla chips which pleased us more.
Here’s the recipe if you’re feeling brave.
Chicken Mole – to serve 4
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 large onions, sliced
- 2tsp smoked sweet paprika
- 8 pieces of chicken on the bone (we used thighs and drumsticks)
- 400g tin of red kidney beans
- 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 75g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas mark 2.
Crush the garlic and slice the onions.
Seal the chicken in some olive oil in a big casserole pot that can go in the oven. When the chicken is lightly browned add the onions and garlic.
When the onions are lightly browned, add the tomatoes and kidney beans (including the juice), plus the paprika and 50g of the chocolate.
Bring to simmer and put in the oven for 1 hr 30 minutes.
Skim the surface to remove any chicken fat. Taste and adjust seasoning – you’ll need some salt. Add another 20g of chocolate to taste.
We served this with pilau rice, tortilla chips and guacamole.
Wine suggestion: This went well with a rich Tempranillo/Garnacha blend from Toro in Spain.
Jono & Jules do food & wine 
Hey guys, A shame you didn’t love the mole. I’m more familiar with Mexican Mole which typically has about 20 ingredients. The one-who-cooks in my house (Bill) has made several moles and a favorite is this red mole.
http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=225
(Some ingredients would be a challenge in Ireland, and apologies for US measurements.)
Thought you might be interested in seeing the differences in ingredients. Does look like chocolate proportion is high in the G&B recipe. I always think the nuts and spices make this sauce so complexly delicious! @lilyrafo will know lots more about this as I see on twitter that she’s made chicken mole tamales for the chocalong.
At least a good guac can cover all manner of ills!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Sharon, we’d been turned off mole’s by this recipe so we’re definitely going to try the red mole suggestion.
We think that the G&B recipe is just trying to get you to use as much chocolate as possible … not that we’re cynical. Sometime though, you can’t really tell how things will work until you do them… though we were a bit concerned when breaking huge chunks of chocolate into the pot!
We’re getting married in a few weeks time and are then going to italy for a few weeks but we shall blog our second attempt at a mole sometime after that.
Jono and Julie
You’re right. You never really know unless you try. I’m happy enough just to eat G&B straight.
Best wishes for your upcoming wedding and travels!