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From Oaxaca's Valles Centrales, hand-formed corn masa empanadas stuffed with chicken in mole amarillo and hoja santa, then pressed thin and crisped on a hot comal until the edges darken and the filling perfumes the kitchen with anise and chilcostle.
This is Oaxacan food. Valles Centrales. The women at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre in the city of Oaxaca have been selling these since before sunrise, stacked on clay plates behind glass cases, the mole amarillo staining the masa a deep gold that no other mole produces. If you have eaten empanaditas de amarillo from a market vendor in Oaxaca and then tried to find them anywhere else, you already know the problem. Nobody else makes them.
Mole amarillo is one of Oaxaca's seven moles, and it is the one most people outside the state have never tasted. The chile that defines it is the chilcostle, a yellow-orange chile grown almost exclusively in Oaxaca's Canada region, the same valley that produces the chilhuacle negro for mole negro. Without chilcostle, you do not have mole amarillo. You have a yellow sauce. There is a difference the first bite will teach you.
The hoja santa is the other signature. That large, heart-shaped leaf with the anise perfume lines the inside of the empanada, pressed into the masa before the filling goes in. It is not a garnish. It is architecture. The leaf releases its oils into the dough as the empanadita cooks on the comal, and by the time you bite through the crisp edge, the anise has woven itself into every layer. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado. They will tell you the same thing.
My mother did not make these. She was jalisciense and her empanadas used wheat flour and were fried. But I have a page in my notebook from a woman named Dona Elvira at the Mercado de Abastos in Oaxaca, 2014, who watched me write down every step and then corrected my proportions twice. She was right both times. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Mole amarillo is one of the seven canonical moles of Oaxaca, a classification codified in the 20th century but rooted in pre-Columbian chile-grinding traditions of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples of the Valles Centrales. The chile chilcostle, which gives the mole its distinctive golden-orange color, is an heirloom variety cultivated in Oaxaca's Canada region and has no significant commercial production outside the state, making mole amarillo one of the most geographically bound preparations in all of Mexican cuisine. The empanada form itself predates the Spanish (the Nahuatl 'tlaolli' traditions of stuffed corn dough are well documented), though the word 'empanada' is Castilian. In Oaxaca's markets, empanaditas de amarillo function as both street food and ceremonial preparation, appearing at celebrations, Day of the Dead altars, and everyday market comida alike.
Quantity
1 pound
Quantity
1/2 medium
Quantity
2
Quantity
1
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
6
stemmed and seeded
Quantity
4
stemmed and seeded
Quantity
6
husked and rinsed
Quantity
1/4 medium
Quantity
2
Quantity
3
Quantity
4
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
2 large
central vein removed
Quantity
1 cup
Quantity
2 tablespoons
dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
Quantity
2 cups
Quantity
3 tablespoons
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
as needed
Quantity
8 to 10
torn into pieces slightly smaller than the empanada
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs | 1 pound |
| white onion (for poaching) | 1/2 medium |
| garlic cloves (for poaching) | 2 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| dried chile chilcostlestemmed and seeded | 6 |
| dried chile costeño amarillostemmed and seeded | 4 |
| tomatilloshusked and rinsed | 6 |
| white onion (for the mole) | 1/4 medium |
| garlic cloves (for the mole) | 2 |
| whole cloves | 3 |
| black peppercorns | 4 |
| cumin seeds | 1/4 teaspoon |
| lard (manteca de cerdo), for frying the mole | 1 tablespoon |
| hoja santa leaves (for the mole)central vein removed | 2 large |
| chicken broth from poaching | 1 cup |
| fresh corn masa (for thickening)dissolved in 2 tablespoons water | 2 tablespoons |
| fresh corn masa for tortillas (or masa harina) | 2 cups |
| lard (manteca de cerdo), softened, for the dough | 3 tablespoons |
| kosher salt (for the dough) | 1/2 teaspoon |
| warm water (for the dough) | as needed |
| hoja santa leaves (for lining the empanaditas)torn into pieces slightly smaller than the empanada | 8 to 10 |
Place the chicken thighs in a small pot and cover with cold water by one inch. Add the half onion, two garlic cloves, the bay leaf, and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first five minutes. Reduce heat and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until the chicken pulls easily from the bone. Remove the chicken. Strain the broth and reserve at least one cup. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it into fine pieces, discarding the skin and bones. Set the shredded chicken aside.
Heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Toast the chilcostle and costeño amarillo chiles one or two at a time, pressing them flat against the hot surface with a spatula for about 20 seconds per side. They will puff, change color slightly, and release a warm, earthy perfume. Do not let them blacken. Transfer the toasted chiles to a bowl, cover with hot tap water (not boiling), and let them soak for 15 minutes until soft and pliable.
While the chiles soak, place the tomatillos, the quarter onion, and the two garlic cloves on the same dry comal. Roast, turning occasionally, until the tomatillos are soft and blistered with dark spots on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. The onion and garlic should be charred at the edges. Transfer everything to the blender.
Drain the soaked chiles and add them to the blender with the roasted tomatillos, onion, and garlic. Add the cloves, peppercorns, cumin seeds, and half a cup of the reserved chicken broth. Blend on high until completely smooth. This should take a full minute. You want no chunks, no bits of chile skin. If the blender struggles, add another splash of broth. The puree should be thick but pourable, the color of dark marigolds.
Heat one tablespoon of lard in a heavy saucepan or clay cazuela over medium heat. When the lard shimmers, pour in the chile puree all at once. It will sputter. Stir constantly for five minutes as the puree darkens and thickens and the fat begins to separate at the edges. This step is not optional. Raw mole tastes raw. Fried mole tastes like mole. Add the remaining half cup of broth, the two hoja santa leaves torn into pieces, and stir. Let it simmer for ten minutes. Stir in the dissolved masa to thicken the sauce. Cook for five more minutes. The mole should coat the back of a spoon and hold its shape when you drag a line through it. Taste for salt. Remove and discard the hoja santa pieces.
Fold the shredded chicken into the cooked mole amarillo. You want enough mole to coat every shred generously but not so much that the filling is soupy. If you have extra mole, reserve it for serving alongside the empanaditas. The filling should hold together on a spoon without running. Let it cool to room temperature before filling the masa. Hot filling melts the dough and tears it.
If using fresh masa, place two cups in a large bowl. If using masa harina, combine two cups of the flour with one and a quarter cups of warm water and let it hydrate for five minutes. Work in the three tablespoons of softened lard and half a teaspoon of salt with your hands, kneading for three to four minutes until the dough is smooth, pliable, and slightly tacky. It should not crack at the edges when you press it flat. If it cracks, add warm water one tablespoon at a time and knead again. La manteca es el sabor. The lard keeps the dough supple and gives the cooked empanadita its tender crunch.
Pinch off a piece of dough the size of a large walnut, about one and a half ounces. Roll it into a ball and place it between two sheets of plastic (a cut-open zip-top bag works) on a tortilla press or a flat surface. Press or pat it into a thin round about four inches across. Lay a small piece of hoja santa leaf on one half of the round. The leaf should be slightly smaller than the half-circle it will cover. Spoon about one tablespoon of the chicken-mole filling onto the hoja santa. Fold the dough over to form a half-moon and press the edges firmly to seal, crimping with your fingers or the tines of a fork. Set the formed empanadita on a tray lined with plastic and repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Heat a comal or cast iron griddle over medium heat. You do not need oil or lard on the surface. The fat in the dough is enough. Place the empanaditas on the hot comal without crowding, leaving an inch between each one. Cook for three to four minutes on the first side, until the bottom develops golden-brown spots and the dough firms enough to flip without tearing. Turn carefully with a thin spatula and cook the second side for another three to four minutes. The finished empanadita should be golden and lightly crisp on the outside, with the masa still tender and the filling hot through. The hoja santa will have darkened inside the dough and its perfume will reach you before you bite.
Transfer the empanaditas to a clay plate or a basket lined with a cloth servilleta to keep them warm while you cook the remaining batch. Serve with a small bowl of the reserved mole amarillo on the side for dipping. No salsa. No crema. The mole is the sauce. Asi se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 55g)
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