Manchamanteles

Serves 8-10

First blend:

3 ancho chiles

3 pasilla chiles

4 tomatoes

½ onion

2 cloves of garlic

6 pieces of allspice

6 cloves

cinnamon stick (10cm)

Second blend:

50g almonds

50g peanuts

2 slices of pineapple (1.5-2cm

thick)

1 apple

1 plantain

broth

1. Prepare the first blend ingredients. Char the tomatoes, onion

and garlic on a hot dry pan until black all over. Leave the

skin on the garlic to protect it from burning. Meanwhile, heat

two cups or so of broth in a saucepan and, using scissors,

remove the stalks from the chiles and open them from the sides

to remove the seeds and veins. Toast the chiles over a high

flame, keeping them in constant motion so as not to burn them.

Once they’re blistered and look lighter in color, place them

to one side. At this stage, you can optionally fry the chiles.

Add oil to a pan and out it on medium heat. Add the chiles to

the oil one at a time, and fry each one for no more than three

seconds each side. Whether you fry the chiles or just toast

them, when you’re done, add them to the hot broth and boil for

ten minutes to soften them.

2. Prepare the second blend. Either roast the seeds until they

have 'freckles'

, that is, black scorch marks, or fry them in

oil. If you fry them in oil, consider turning the heat down as

low as possible to avoid burning them. When you’re done, add

all of the nuts to the blender and blend them with what’s left

of the broth, plus a little more water if necessary. For a

silkier mole, grind for at least a minute. You may also choose

to strain the blend into a bowl using a sieve and wooden

spoon.

3. Prepare the first blend. After 10 minutes in the boiling

broth, the chiles should be soft. Place them, the tomatoes,

onion, peeled garlic and spices in the blender with all the

broth, and blend everything for at least a minute. Using a

sieve and wooden spoon, strain the blend into a bowl.4. Prepare the fruit. Peel the apples and cut them into 1.5-2cm

cubes. Peel the plantain and cut it into 1.5-2cm thick discs.

Chop the pineapple slice into 1.5-2cm cubes.

5. Cook the mole. Heat a clay or metal pot until very hot and add

enough of the oil you used to fry the chiles and nuts to cover

the bottom. Add just one spoonful of the first blend to the

hot oil to caramelize sugars in some of the ingredients. Be

careful, as it’ll spit. When that first blend thickens and

goes darker in color (about a minute), add the rest of the

first blend and all of the second blend. Also add the fruit.

6. Stew the mole. Lower the heat and let the mole stew for 30

minutes. After that time, taste it, and add salt and sugar

little by little until it tastes good to you. Serve with rice

and your chosen protein. Oyster mushrooms work great.