Molé Blanco Image Used Under Creative Commons License From cookandchefinstitute.com
Citizens, I, the mighty TFD am preparing to head off to Mexico this weekend to visit my sister-in-law. To prepare myself for the glorious foods of this country, I would very much like to share the unique white mole sauce recipe with you!
Mole blanco (“white mole”) is a type of mole of the cuisine of Mexico, one of the rarest in fact! This type of thickened sauce is prepared with a mixture of light-colored ingredients.
The ingredients lightly roasted are peanuts without skin, skinless almonds, sunflower, white pinion and white corn tortilla.
The elements fried in oil are sliced banana, chopped apple, blonde raisins, sliced onion, pieces of chile güero and bits of habanero chile.
These ingredients are ground by parties in a blender or in a molcajete, adding milk, white chocolate, and water or broth, along with seasonings items like garlic, cloves, allspice, cinnamon strips and anise. An aromatic mole is obtained, with a mild flavor.
As noted on newyork.serioueats.com:
There are the seven moles of Oaxaca—and then there is mole blanco. Absent even from Diana Kennedy’s exhaustive culinary ethnography Oaxaca Al Gusto, this mole, also known as mole de novia, is a virtual unknown compared to its sister dishes.
I never heard of it before Natalia Mendez, one of the mom and pop owners of Mott Haven’s La Morada, casually mentioned it in a conversation about the Oaxacan specialties she has cooked here. La Morada makes the dish, and trying it is worth a special visit.
Natalia and her family, including her husband Antonio Saavedra and three children, hail from the tiny town of San Miguel Ahuehuetitlán (pop. 226) in the Silacayoapam District of Oaxaca’s Mixteca Region. With her son Marco acting as interpreter, she explained that mole blanco is a Mixteca dish usually eaten during Easter or Christmas.
The most traditional way to serve it, he told me, is with an edible flower known as pípí or chitapí in Mixtec that comes from a tree and tastes like green beans. Unsurprisingly, they have been unable to find it here. Other acceptable avenues for the sauce include rabbit (seen here), various fowl, and chiles rellenos.
Citizens, my version is resolutely traditional with just a hint of TFD magic in the spicing – I hope you will take it upon yourself to try this rarest of mole sauces!
Battle on – The Generalissimo
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups chicken stock
- 2 yellow habanero peppers
- 1 plantain, sliced into small pieces
- 1 slice white bread, lightly toasted and crumbled
- 2 teaspoons butter, more as needed
- ¾ cup diced onion
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 2 cloves roasted garlic (TFD addition, optional)
- ½ cup peeled almonds, TFD prefers Spanish marcona almonds
- ¼ cup unsalted peanuts
- ½ cup white pine nuts
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- ½ cup white raisins
- A large pinch of freshly ground cloves
- A small pinch of Ceylon cinnamon
- A medium pinch of freshly ground anise
- salt & white pepper to taste
- ½ cup white chocolate, chopped (make sure your chocolate contains cocoa butter)
- 1 spoonful sesame seeds for garnish (not roasted)
- edible flowers for garnish
Instructions
- In a pan on a medium heat, roast the almonds, peanuts, pine nuts and sesame seeds until lightly golden and fragrant. Set aside.
- Roast the chilies on a griddle, then place them in a plastic bag to sweat. (Important: roast the chilies raw)
- Clean the peppers, removing skin, seeds and stem. Mince them.
- Blend the chilies with the chicken stock. Set aside.
- Heat the butter in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Cook plantain until golden. Add onion and raw garlic and more butter if needed. Cook until onions are transparent.
- Incorporate the almonds, peanuts, pine nuts, raisins and bread.
- Cook until bread is soft and blended with the onion mixture.
- Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Add spices, stock, white chocolate and roasted garlic (if using) and keep cooking on a medium-low heat for a minimum 15-20 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender and blend to a smooth sauce in the saucepan.
- To serve, cover chicken pieces with the sauce and sprinkle on toasted sesame seeds.
- Serve garnished with edible flowers to taste.
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Yum!!!!
Always wondered what a white mole would taste like…
Pretty darned awesome! 😀
Just cooked it yesterday for a small party of 4. Mix of native Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Minds were blown. Nobody will ever be the same. It’s very, very rich, so word of warning, it will make you sleep. I’m making it on a larger scale for a party of 12. Thanks for the recipe. Didn’t change a thing. (Except I used a blender because who the heck has an immersion blender)
Citizen Javier – I’m so glad you enjoyed my recipe, and thanks for taking the time to let everyone know how it turned out for you! 😀
I was already thinking of making this for Christmas before I saw that it was/is traditionally done then (along with Easter). I’m glad someone tried it; thanks for the feedback. Right after I read about this I was looking for the flowers you mention and found a page on edible flowers that showed fine hand pizzas with a white sauce. I think I’ll make something similar with this.
I hope it turns out well for you, Citizen Jo Jo! 🙂