Enmoladas de Mole Poblano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide cazuela or heavy 3-quart saucepan for the mole
• •Small cast iron or steel skillet for warming tortillas in lard
• •Tongs
• •Wide ceramic plates, preferably talavera poblana, for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake up the mole

   Pour the mole poblano into a wide cazuela or heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Cold mole from the refrigerator will be the texture of paste. Add chicken broth a half cup at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mole loosens to the consistency of heavy cream that coats the spoon and falls in a slow ribbon. Taste. If it tastes shy, add a pinch of salt. If it tastes flat, a small piece of Mexican chocolate (a quarter ounce) will wake it back up. Keep it warm over the lowest heat while you work, stirring every few minutes so the bottom does not catch.

   Mole that has rested overnight is better mole. The chiles, spices, chocolate, and nuts marry in a way they cannot on the day you make it. This is why enmoladas exist: they are the dish that honors yesterday's pot.
2. 2

   Warm the pollo deshebrado

   Place the shredded chicken in a small saucepan with a half cup of chicken broth. Warm over low heat just until the chicken is heated through and the broth is mostly absorbed. The chicken should be moist, never wet. Wet chicken makes a sloppy enmolada that falls apart on the plate.

3. 3

   Soften the tortillas in lard

   Heat the manteca in a small skillet over medium until it shimmers. Working one at a time, slide a tortilla into the hot lard for about five seconds per side. You are not frying the tortilla crisp. You are softening it and sealing the surface so it can take the mole without disintegrating. Lift it out with tongs and let the excess lard drip back into the skillet. La manteca es el sabor, and it is also what keeps the tortilla intact when the mole hits it. Stack the softened tortillas on a plate as you go.

   If your tortillas are very fresh and pliable, you can skip the lard and just warm them on a dry comal for 20 seconds per side. But day-old tortillas, the ones you actually have in the kitchen, need the fat to come back to life. Stale tortillas without lard will tear the moment you fold them.
4. 4

   Bathe and fill

   Working one tortilla at a time, drag the softened tortilla through the warm mole, coating both sides. Lay it on a warm plate. Place about three tablespoons of the shredded chicken across the center. Fold the tortilla in half over the filling, or roll it into a tube, whichever the cook in your house prefers. In Puebla I have seen both. Repeat with the rest, arranging two enmoladas per plate side by side.

5. 5

   Blanket with more mole

   Once the enmoladas are folded and plated, ladle another generous spoonful of warm mole over the top of each one. The blanket should pool slightly around the edges. This is not a stingy dish. A poblana would look at a thin coat of mole and shake her head. The mole is the point. The tortilla and chicken are the vehicle.

6. 6

   Finish at the table

   Drizzle crema mexicana across the top in a back-and-forth motion. Scatter the crumbled queso fresco generously. Arrange the thin rings of raw white onion across the cheese. Shower with toasted sesame seeds and a few cilantro leaves if you are using them. Serve immediately with refried black beans and either Mexican rice or a few slices of fried ripe plantain on the side. This is breakfast in Puebla. Eat it while the mole is still hot and the onion is still sharp. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •If you do not have leftover mole, a good jarred mole poblano paste from Puebla, look for the brands sold in glass jars rather than plastic tubs, can be reconstituted with chicken broth and a small piece of Mexican chocolate to get you most of the way there. Doña Maria is acceptable in a pinch but the cheaper brands taste like the chocolate they padded the recipe with. Read the ingredients. If chocolate or sugar is in the first three, keep looking.
• •The chicken matters less than people think and more than they admit. Poach a whole bone-in chicken with onion, garlic, and salt the day before. Shred it by hand, not in a food processor. The broth becomes the liquid for loosening the mole. Nothing wasted. The bird does double duty.
• •Queso fresco is not the same as queso panela or cotija. Queso fresco is moist, crumbly, mildly salty. Cotija is dry and sharp like a Mexican parmesan and would overpower the mole. If you can find queso ranchero or queso de rancho at a Mexican market, even better. No me vengas con mozzarella or feta. Feta is too salty and tastes of Greece. Mozzarella tastes of nothing.
• •Crema mexicana is thinner and tangier than American sour cream. Cacique and Tropical both make decent versions sold in Mexican grocery stores. If you absolutely cannot find it, thin sour cream with a tablespoon of whole milk and a squeeze of lime. It is a compromise, not an upgrade.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole itself can be made up to four days ahead and refrigerated, or frozen for up to three months. The flavor only deepens with rest. This is the whole point of the dish.
• •The chicken can be poached and shredded one day ahead. Store it in some of its own broth so it does not dry out.
• •Assemble the enmoladas only at serving time. They do not hold. A pre-assembled enmolada sitting on a counter becomes a soggy disappointment within minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 490g)