Mexican Mole
Origins and Recipe

For a more flavorful Mexican meal, you might like to add Mexican mole to your dish. This basically refers to a number of complex sauces that make Mexican cooking the delectable and wonderful food it is. With a good mix of spices, nuts, herbs, chilies, fruits and even chocolate, mole adds a great flavor to vegetables, meat or fish.

The origin of these sauces is believed to be from places like Tlaxcala, Puebla and Oaxaca. Many say the best kinds of moles however are found in Oaxaca and Puebla.

In this sauce, the chili pepper is the main ingredient. One of the most classic kinds of the mole in Hispanic culture is the one called Poblano. This is a brown or dark red sauce that's served over meat.

Today we use ingredients from the continents of Africa, Europe and North America to make this sauce. When you want to put a Hispanic twist in your dishes, you can easily make mole yourself, just follow this simple recipe.

Making Mexican Mole

Ingredients

Buying the Best Ingredients

Preparation

1. You only have to heat the oil over medium heat in a saucepan.
2. Cook the onion until it becomes tender.
3. Mix in the garlic, cilantro, cocoa powder and cumin.
4. Add the green chili peppers and the tomato soup.
5. Bring this mixture to a boil and reduce the heat to low.
6. Cover the saucepan and simmer for another 10 minutes.
7. Top any meat or food you desire with this Mexican sauce and serve. In half an hour, you're ready with a fabulous dish, spiced up and made tastier by the mole.

History of Mexican Mole

There are many versions to the legend that relates to the birth of the mole, and the most popular one took place in the Convento de Santa Rosa in Puebla.

Many say that in the colonial period, when the nuns heard that the archbishop was coming to visit, they were panic stricken because they had nothing to serve for they were poor.

The nuns prayed and brought together the bits they had, ingredients like spices, chocolate, chili peppers and the like. In the convent they had an old turkey that they killed, cooked and served with the sauce on top. When the archbishop finally arrived, the nuns served this meal and he loved it.

When steaks and other meals start to taste boring to you, you "spice them up" with this Mexican sauce. It's a great sauce to pour over rice, salad greens, rotisserie chicken and turn a simple meal into a special one with Mexican Mole!