Tamales Oaxaqueños de Mole Negro con Pollo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large tamalera (Mexican steamer pot) or 16-quart stockpot with steamer insert
• •Heavy 6-quart cazuela or Dutch oven for the mole
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and charring vegetables
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Stand mixer or large bowl for whipping the masa
• •Wooden spoon for stirring the mole

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the chicken

   Place the chicken pieces in a large pot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, halved garlic head, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Cook for 45 minutes, until the meat pulls away from the bone. Cold water and a slow simmer give you broth with body. A hard boil clouds it and toughens the meat. Lift the chicken out, let it cool, and shred the meat. Save every drop of broth. You will use it for the mole and for loosening the masa.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the chilhuacle, mulato, pasilla oaxaqueño, and guajillo separately, 20 to 30 seconds per side. The skin will puff and the kitchen will smell like the chile vendors at the Central de Abastos in Oaxaca. The mulato burns the fastest. Watch it. Reserve the chilhuacle seeds for burning later. That is where the dark color comes from.

   If you cannot source chilhuacle negro outside Oaxaca, accept that you are making a different mole. Do not substitute ancho and call it mole negro. The chilhuacle is the recipe.
3. 3

   Burn the seeds and tortillas

   On the dry comal, char the reserved chilhuacle seeds, one whole day-old tortilla, and a slice of the bolillo until they turn deep black. Smoke will rise. Open a window. This burned element is the soul of mole negro and what makes it negro instead of rojo. Without it, you have a brown sauce, not a black one. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Soak the chiles

   Place the toasted chiles in a heatproof bowl with the burned seeds and burned tortilla. Cover with hot water from the tap, not boiling. Let them soften for 20 minutes. Hot water draws out the flavor cleanly. Boiling water cooks the skin and turns the mole bitter. Drain and reserve a cup of the soaking liquid.

5. 5

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, char the quartered onion, the unpeeled garlic cloves, the tomatoes, and the tomatillos. Turn them as they blacken in spots, 8 to 10 minutes total. The skins should be blistered and the flesh softened. Peel the garlic. Set everything aside with the chiles.

6. 6

   Fry the spices, nuts, and seeds

   In a heavy skillet, melt 1/4 cup of the lard over medium heat. Add the almonds and fry until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the raisins and fry until they puff. Add the sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, oregano, thyme, and cumin. Toast for another minute, just until fragrant. The sesame should turn light gold, no darker. Transfer everything to a blender.

7. 7

   Fry the plantain and remaining bread

   Add 2 more tablespoons of lard to the skillet. Fry the plantain chunks until deeply caramelized on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining torn bolillo and the remaining tortillas, frying until golden. The plantain brings sweetness, the bread brings body. Both go into the blender.

8. 8

   Blend the mole in stages

   Working in batches, blend the chiles with their soaking liquid and a cup of chicken broth until you have a smooth paste. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on the solids. Discard the skins. Then blend the spice and nut mixture with the charred vegetables and another cup of broth until smooth. Strain that as well. You should have two purees, the chile paste and the spice paste.

9. 9

   Fry the mole

   In a heavy 6-quart cazuela or Dutch oven, melt the remaining 1/2 cup of lard over medium heat until it shimmers. Pour in the chile puree carefully. It will sputter. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the puree darkens and the lard rises to the surface around the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This is where mole becomes mole. Add the spice puree and cook another 10 minutes, stirring without rest.

   If the mole spits, lower the heat. Do not skip the frying. This step deepens every flavor in the pot and is the difference between a mole that tastes like a sauce and a mole that tastes like Oaxaca.
10. 10

    Finish the mole and rest

    Add the chopped Mexican chocolate and stir until it melts in completely. Pour in 4 to 5 cups of the reserved chicken broth, enough to bring the mole to the consistency of a thick gravy. Simmer gently for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring often, until the flavor settles and the surface darkens to near-black. Salt to taste. Stir half of the shredded chicken into a portion of the mole and reserve. The mole is better made one day ahead. Refrigerate overnight if you can. The flavor only deepens.

11. 11

    Prepare the banana leaves

    Banana leaves, not corn husks. This is Oaxaca and that is the recipe. Rinse the leaves under warm water to remove any dust. Pass each leaf, one at a time, over an open gas flame or a hot comal for a few seconds per side. The color will deepen from pale to glossy emerald and the leaf will become pliable. Wipe with a damp cloth. Cut into rectangles roughly 10 by 12 inches. You will need 24 to 30 pieces, plus extras for the bottom of the pot.

    The banana leaf is not a substitute for corn husk. It gives the masa a different steam, greener and earthier, that the husk cannot replicate. If you use corn husks, you have made a fine tamal. You have not made a Oaxacan one.
12. 12

    Beat the masa

    In a large bowl or stand mixer, whip the room-temperature lard with the salt and baking powder until pale and fluffy, 5 minutes. Add the masa in chunks, beating until fully incorporated. Pour in warm chicken broth, a quarter cup at a time, until the masa is soft, spreadable, and just holds its shape on a spoon. Test it by dropping a small ball into a glass of cold water. If it floats, the masa is ready. If it sinks, beat in more lard or more air. Oaxacan tamal masa is silkier and softer than the Mexico City version. It should be almost like thick cake batter, not the stiff dough you might know from corn-husk tamales.

13. 13

    Assemble the tamales

    Lay a piece of banana leaf shiny side up on the counter. Spoon about 1/3 cup of masa into the center and spread it into a rectangle, leaving a border of two inches on all sides. Place 2 tablespoons of shredded chicken in the middle and spoon 2 generous tablespoons of mole negro on top. Lay a piece of torn hoja santa over the mole if using. Fold the long sides of the leaf over the filling so they overlap in the center. Fold the short ends up to enclose. The tamal should look like a flat rectangular package, not a cylinder. Place seam side down. Continue until everything is wrapped.

14. 14

    Steam the tamales

    Line a tamalera or large steamer with a layer of banana leaf scraps. Stand a coin in the bottom of the water reservoir. When it stops rattling, you know the water has run dry. Stack the tamales flat in layers, seam side down. Cover with more banana leaf scraps and a clean kitchen towel. Steam over medium heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes, checking the water level every 30 minutes and adding more boiling water as needed. They are done when the leaf releases the masa cleanly and the masa is firm, not gummy. Let them rest, covered, for 15 minutes off the heat before serving. The masa needs that rest to set. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Source the chilhuacle negro from a Oaxacan supplier or specialty importer. If you cannot get chilhuacle, do not pretend with ancho. Make a different mole and call it what it is. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Use Mexican chocolate from Oaxaca itself if you can find it. Mayordomo and Guelaguetza are the brands the cooks in the Central de Abastos use. American baking chocolate is not the same. The Mexican tablets carry cinnamon and a coarser sugar that belong in this mole.
• •The mole should rest overnight before you assemble the tamales. The flavors marry, the harshness rounds, the depth settles. Make the mole on day one and the tamales on day two. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo.
• •Real fresh masa from a tortilleria gives you a softer, more flavorful tamal than masa harina. If you have access to a Mexican tortilleria, ask for masa preparada para tamales. They will know what you mean.
• •Test one tamal at the one-hour mark by unwrapping it. If the masa pulls away cleanly from the leaf, the rest are done. If it sticks, give them another 15 minutes.

Advance Preparation

• •Day one: poach the chicken, build the mole, and refrigerate both overnight. The mole improves dramatically with a night of rest.
• •Day two: beat the masa, prepare the banana leaves, assemble and steam the tamales.
• •Assembled raw tamales can be frozen for up to two months. Steam directly from frozen, adding 30 minutes to the cooking time.
• •Steamed tamales keep refrigerated for four days. Reheat by re-steaming for 20 minutes. Microwaving makes the masa rubbery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)