Chilaquiles con Mole Poblano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy skillet or 12-inch clay cazuela for frying the totopos
• •Wide saucepan for warming the mole
• •Slotted spoon and wire rack for draining the totopos
• •Small nonstick skillet for the fried eggs

Instructions

1. 1

   Dry the tortillas

   If your tortillas are fresh, lay the cut pieces out on a sheet pan and let them sit at room temperature for two to three hours, or dry them in a 200F oven for 15 minutes. Day-old tortillas fry up crisp. Fresh tortillas absorb the lard and turn soggy. This is not a step you can skip. The totopo has to hold its structure under the mole.

   In Puebla, cooks save the tortillas from the night before specifically for chilaquiles the next morning. Nothing in the kitchen goes to waste. That is the origin of the dish.
2. 2

   Fry the totopos

   Heat the manteca in a wide heavy skillet or cazuela over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Fry the tortilla pieces in batches, turning once, until golden and crisp at the edges, about two minutes per side. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack. Salt them lightly while they are still hot. You want them crisp enough that you can hear them when they hit the rack. La manteca es el sabor and the totopos fried in lard taste like nothing fried in oil ever will.

3. 3

   Warm and loosen the mole

   Pour the mole poblano into a wide saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the warm chicken broth a little at a time until the mole reaches the consistency of heavy cream, pourable but with body. It should coat the back of a spoon and slide off in a thick ribbon. Cold mole from the refrigerator will be stiff. Warm it slowly and stir often so the bottom does not scorch. Taste for salt. Mole that sat overnight deepens in flavor and sometimes needs a small adjustment.

4. 4

   Fry the eggs

   Wipe out the skillet you used for the totopos, leaving a film of lard. Crack the eggs in one at a time over medium heat. Cook estrellados, sunny side up, until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny, about three minutes. The yolk is going to break over the chilaquiles at the table. That is half the pleasure of this plate.

5. 5

   Dress the totopos

   Work quickly now. Pile a generous portion of the crisp totopos in a wide shallow plate. Ladle the warm mole over them, enough to coat every piece but not so much that they drown. The totopos should soften slightly at the edges but stay crisp in the center. Chilaquiles are not soup. They are not nachos either. They live in the moment between crisp and soft, and you have about two minutes before the structure collapses. So me vengas con atajos: dress them to order, not ahead.

   Some families in Puebla toss the totopos in the mole right in the pan, then plate. Others ladle mole over the plated totopos. Both are correct. Pick the method that suits your kitchen.
6. 6

   Finish and serve

   Slide a fried egg onto each plate of mole-dressed totopos. Drizzle the crema in zigzags across the top. Scatter the crumbled queso fresco, the raw white onion rings, and the toasted sesame seeds over everything. Tuck a few epazote or cilantro leaves on top. Serve with refried black beans on the side and a stack of warm corn tortillas. The egg yolk breaks. The crema cuts the mole. The onion bites back. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Use the oldest tortillas you can find. Three or four days old is even better than one day. The drier the tortilla, the crisper the totopo, and the longer it holds up under the mole. Fresh tortillas are for tacos, not chilaquiles.
• •If you do not have leftover mole, this dish becomes a project. Mole poblano is a 30-ingredient sauce that takes the better part of two days. Make a large batch on a weekend and freeze it in one-cup portions. Future you will be grateful. Jarred mole paste from Puebla, the kind that needs to be thinned with broth, is an honest shortcut, not the same as scratch mole but acceptable. Avoid anything labeled 'mole sauce' in a glass jar from the supermarket. That is not mole.
• •Crema mexicana is not sour cream. It is thinner, slightly tangy, with a sweet edge that cuts through the mole. If you cannot find it, thin some creme fraiche with a little milk and a pinch of salt. Sour cream will make the dish heavy and wrong.
• •Queso fresco crumbles. Queso Oaxaca melts. For chilaquiles, you want queso fresco or queso ranchero, not Oaxaca. The crumbled cheese sits on top and adds salt and a milky bite. Melted cheese would turn the dish into something else.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole poblano can, and should, be made up to three days ahead. Refrigerated mole deepens in flavor and is the whole point of this dish. It also freezes well for up to three months.
• •The totopos can be fried up to four hours ahead and held at room temperature on a wire rack. Do not refrigerate them. The cold will turn them soft.
• •The dish itself must be assembled to order. Chilaquiles cannot be made ahead, plated, and held. The totopos will collapse under the sauce within minutes. Have everything ready and assemble at the moment of service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 465g)