Bajio Green Pumpkin Seed Mole (Mole Verde de Pepita)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •6 to 8 quart glazed clay cazuela from Dolores Hidalgo or Capula, or a heavy Dutch oven
• •Cast iron comal for toasting pepitas and blistering vegetables
• •High-powered blender or metate for grinding the pepita base
• •Wooden spoon for frying the mole
• •Fine-mesh strainer for clarifying broth if needed

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the broth

   Put the pork shoulder and neck bones in a heavy pot or clay cazuela. Cover with the cold water. Add the halved onion, 4 garlic cloves, bay leaves, and salt. Bring it slowly to a simmer over medium heat, then skim the gray foam that rises in the first 15 minutes. A hard boil gives you cloudy broth and tough meat. We are not doing that.

2. 2

   Simmer the pork

   Lower the heat until the broth moves gently. Cover partially and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add the xoconostle pieces and continue simmering 30 to 45 minutes more, until the pork pulls apart when pressed with a spoon but still holds its shape. The xoconostle should taste clean and sour, not sweet. This is acidity from the Bajio, not candy.

3. 3

   Toast the pepitas

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Add the pepitas and stir constantly until they puff, pop lightly, and smell nutty, 4 to 6 minutes. They should turn golden in spots, never black. Burned pepita makes a bitter mole and no amount of cilantro will save it. Reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish.

   Use raw hulled pepitas, not salted snack pepitas. If the seeds smell stale before they hit the comal, throw them out. Rancid seed ruins the whole cazuela.
4. 4

   Blister the vegetables

   On the same comal, cook the tomate verde, serranos, poblano, sliced onion, and remaining 2 garlic cloves. Turn them as they blister. The tomatillos will dull from bright green to olive and soften. The serranos should spot and collapse slightly. Let the poblano blacken all over, then cover it in a bowl for 10 minutes. Peel, stem, and seed it. That skin is tough. Take it off.

5. 5

   Blend the mole

   Transfer the toasted pepitas to a blender with the blistered tomate verde, serranos, peeled poblano, onion, garlic, cilantro, parsley, epazote, cumin seeds, and 2 cups of hot pork broth. Add the chilcuague if using. Blend until completely smooth. Pepita needs time under the blade. If the blender struggles, add a little more broth. You want a thick green cream, not gritty paste.

6. 6

   Fry the sauce

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide clay cazuela or Dutch oven over medium heat. Pour in the green pepita puree. It will sputter, so use a wooden spoon and keep stirring. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens, deepens to a serious green, and small beads of fat appear at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil will not give you the same body.

7. 7

   Return the pork

   Lift the pork from the broth and add it to the fried mole. Add 3 cups of the pork broth, the cooked xoconostle pieces, and the cooked cacahuazintle if using. Stir gently so the meat stays in generous pieces. Simmer 20 minutes over low heat, stirring now and then so the pepita does not catch on the bottom. The sauce should coat the spoon heavily but still move like a stew.

8. 8

   Season and rest

   Taste for salt. Pepita absorbs seasoning, so do not be timid. If the mole is too thick, loosen it with more pork broth. If it tastes flat, simmer 5 minutes more before adding anything else. Rest the cazuela off the heat for 10 minutes. The fat settles, the seed thickens, and the pork takes in the sauce.

9. 9

   Serve the cazuela

   Serve family-style in the cazuela, with the reserved toasted pepitas scattered over the top and a few cilantro leaves if you want them. Put warm corn tortillas and Mexican white rice on the table. No cheddar, no sour cream, no flour tortillas. This is Guanajuato's Bajio, not a border restaurant. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Do not add chile guajillo to this mole verde. Guajillo belongs in red adobos and table salsas from the same region, but here the chiles are fresh chile serrano and, if your market has it, a careful shaving of chilcuague. Add guajillo and you drag the sauce out of its own identity.
• •Chilcuague is powerful and hard to find outside the Sierra Gorda of Guanajuato, Queretaro, and San Luis Potosi. If you cannot find it, leave it out. Do not replace it with ginger or Sichuan peppercorn. A substitution is a compromise, not a costume.
• •Xoconostle is sour cactus fruit. Sweet prickly pear, tuna, is not the same thing. If the market has no xoconostle, let the tomate verde carry the acidity and move on.
• •Cacahuazintle must be cooked before it goes into the mole. Dry kernels need their own nixtamalization and long cooking. Do not throw dry corn into a finished cazuela and expect mercy.
• •This mole rests well. The color softens from bright green to olive as it sits, and that is normal. If you want a sharper green at the table, blend a small handful of fresh cilantro with half a cup of hot broth and stir it in just before serving.

Advance Preparation

• •The pork and broth can be cooked one day ahead. Refrigerate the meat in the strained broth so it stays moist, then lift off any hardened fat you do not want before reheating.
• •Pepitas can be toasted up to two days ahead and stored airtight once completely cool. Do not blend them until you are ready to make the mole.
• •The finished mole keeps refrigerated for three days. Reheat gently over low heat and loosen with pork broth because pepita thickens as it sits.
• •Cooked cacahuazintle can be prepared two days ahead and refrigerated in its cooking liquid. Drain before adding it to the mole.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 480g)