>> Pati Narrates: Mole.

The sauce of Mexico.

But moles can come in so many surprising varieties.

In Oaxaca, Chef Celia Florian reveals the secrets of a black mole called Chichilo Negro.

>> I've never seen this process before.

>> Pati Narrates: In my kitchen, I'm cooking two easy and pleasing moles.

>> You know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna shock that sauce in here.

That's good, that's good.

>> Pati Narrates: a cheerful Mole Verde with pork and white beans.

An exotic mole Almendrado con Pollo.

Mole, a world of surprises in just one bite.

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They're always there because they're fresh all year round.

>> ♪ Avocados from Mexico ♪ >> La Costeña, por sabor!

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♪ epic music plays ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Mole is one of the most iconic of Mexican dishes, but mole is not a single dish, mole is a universe of possibilities.

There are as many moles as you can think of!

I'm gonna show you how to make 2 of my favorite ones that you probably haven't even heard of, and I'm gonna tell you a lot of things about mole so you will know what makes a mole a true mole.

The first one I'm gonna start with is a Mole Verde with Pork and White Beans.

I have four pounds of pork country style ribs, which means that the bone has been taken out, but all of the meat and the fat and flavor remains.

So I'm gonna cut these into 2 - 3 inch chunks, and I'm gonna start adding them all in this pot.

If you don't find country style pork ribs, you can also use pork butt or shoulder, it will work just as well.

Okay, so I'm going to make a broth, and I'm gonna add a whole head of garlic and I'm cutting it in half.

This is such a pretty sight, one doesn't usually see the garlic cut like this.

Drop it in there with the skin and everything, and then I'm gonna cut the onion in half, just gonna throw it in there, 3 bay leaves, 10 peppercorns, 1 tablespoon of salt, and I'm gonna cover this with water, and I'm gonna bring it to a rolling boil.

I'm covering it generously with water because I want to make a lot of broth.

So now we're gonna let this come to a full rolling boil over very high heat.

So after about 5 - 6 minutes, you're gonna see a lot of foam on the top and we're gonna skim that just to have cleaner broth, as much as you can, it doesn't have to be absolutely everything.

So now I'm gonna cover it, reduce the heat to low, and it's gonna cook for about an hour and we're gonna have a flavorful broth, but the meat is gonna be still nice and moist.

So it's been about an hour and the meat is cooked, and you can see the broth, how it's nice and clear.

Take out all of the meat and let it rest aside.

Strain the broth for cooking the beans, but reserve 4 cups for making the mole.

After rinsing the pot pour all the broth back in here.

I'm gonna bring this to a boil, and I'm gonna add a pound of white beans.

So, different from cooking them just in a big pot of water, they're gonna suck all that broth flavor, so we're really looking for layers of flavor in every step of the mole making process.

Bring this to a boil, and then I'm going to cover it, reduce the head to low, and let it cook anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, just until the beans are nice and soft, and meanwhile, I'm gonna make the base for the mole verde.

I have my oven set to broil, and I have two pounds of tomatillos, place them all over here.

I'm gonna roast or char them along with 2 serrano chiles for 9 - 10 minutes, until they're completely charred and soft.

So along with the tomatillos and the chile, the sauce is gonna have 3 cloves of garlic, 4 whole cloves, but I'm gonna remove the stem, so I'm just gonna use that tiny little peppercorn on top.

Then I'm gonna coarsely chop half a cup of an onion.

The word "mole" comes from an ancient word which means is just ingredients ground or mixed or mashed together, but to have a mole, you need a couple of things, not only ingredients just mashed together, like, whatever I just threw something in there, that's a mole?

No, to have a mole, you need to have at least one kind or another of a chile.

It can be fresh, it can be dried, and then all of the ingredients need to have been transformed before they're added to that mash-up/mix-up, so the mole sauce is really a translation of layered ingredients mixed together, which gives the mole sauces a lot of depth.

I would say that you can compare Mexican moles to Indian curries for example, I think it's the same concept.

I'm gonna add a teaspoon of salt, about 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.

Now remember I had reserved 4 cups of broth?

I'm gonna add a cup of broth in here, and then let me check on my tomatillos 'cause it smells like they're ready.

This is exactly what we want!

We charred the tomatillos and now they're rustic, they're smoky, all their sweetness came out, and I mean, look at their juices, I mean, it makes my mouth water.

So I'm adding that in here, and you want all that charred, toasted, even burnt flavor in because that's gonna give it another layer of flavor.

So I'm adding all of these in here, and you really want to get all of the flavors so I'm adding any juices that are there, 'cause that's good, like, all that liquid from the tomatillos, that's good.

I'm gonna move the beans to the back burner, and I'm gonna bring my big casserole to the front, turn this on over medium to medium-high heat, and I'm gonna add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

You know I'm gonna shock that sauce in here.

[blender whirs] >> Reduce the heat to medium, cover it partially, and I'm gonna let that cook for a few minutes while I puree the next layer of ingredients.

Even though it's a very cooked and seasoned mole, it has a refreshing, herby, fragrant layer.

So I'm adding about a 1/2 cup of fresh epazote leaves.

I'm gonna add a couple more cups of the broth in here, and then I'm adding about a 1/2 cup of parsley, just coarsely chopped.

And the other thing that I'm going to add, which has a beautiful name and it's just as beautiful of an ingredient, is the Hoja Santa leaf.

Hoja Santa translates to "Sacred Leaf", I mean, how beautiful is that?

And it's very hard to find fresh outside of Mexico, but you can get dried Hoja Santa leaves, and they're just as delicious, they're really big, and it adds a very sort of licorice taste, I'm only adding a teaspoon.

If you can find the Hoja Santa, you can just keep it, nothing happens, you're gonna have a delicious mole without it, but if you find it, it's gonna add that extra "Hmm, what was that in there?"

And I'm just gonna add the rest of the broth, and I'm gonna puree this until completely smooth.

[blender whirs] >> It smells so fresh, so herby!

This is exactly what a mole sauce does, it adds the different layers of ingredients, and we're marrying them.

So all we need to do now is add the pork.

So I'm gonna add all of the beans in here with all of the broth that they cooked in.

Another thing that's incredibly fabulous about moles is that because of the intrinsic nature of how they are constructed, they get better and better the more they're reheated.

It's one of those dishes that are so grateful that you made them, that they just keep getting better for you each time you eat them.

Let it season and thicken for 5 minutes, and then it's ready to serve.

I like to serve it in bowls because it is very soupy.

And then I'm gonna garnish it a little with radishes and white onion and a squeeze of lime.

Mmm.

It's so bright, it's like you're tasting all sorts of green combined together.

This will really change what you think of mole.

>> Pati Narrates: Oaxaca is known as the land of the 7 moles, and mole is the heart and soul of Oaxacan cuisine.

Each region, village, neighborhood even has their own unique recipe, but few cooks have mastered making moles like Celia Florian.

>> Celia has a restaurant, it's called Las Quince Letras, and Celia is known for making the best moles in the city of Oaxaca, and I was so lucky 'cause she invited me not to her restaurant, but to her own home to see how she makes one of her favorite moles.

>> This mole that Celia is making is called a chichilo, cute name.

It is a very complex mole, it has a lot of ingredients.

>> Okay, where do we start?

>> They're even beautiful on the inside!

What is the similarity between all the moles?

>> Mole just translates into thick sauce that has chiles.

So now we're gonna toast them.

>> Yes.

>> (Pati coughs) >> The smoke is just impossible.

[crew laughs and coughs] >> The cook's left the kitchen, sorry!

>> (Pati coughs) >> Pati Narrates: The real magic happens right on the comale.

Toasted tortillas, dried chile seeds, and fire?

>> When you said burning, you really meant burning down until they became ashes, I've never seen this process.

When people are finding out what gives Oaxaca it's intense flavors, they don't go halfway.

They're not afraid of super bitter and intense flavors in their mole sauces.

>> So these are ashes, and these ashes of the tortilla and the chile seeds are the key element of the chichilo negro.

>> Pati Narrates: Those ashes then go into a blender with some water.

>> So all the toasted chiles.

>> Pati Narrates: Then into the hot oil.

Tomatoes, tomatillos and aromatics are charred on a comale.

Corn masa, toasted herbs, and some beef broth also have a turn in the blender.

>> So since we started cooking, this has been such an aroma adventure, and now I can really smell the mole, like, all of those techniques are coming together into one very complex, very fragrant smell.

>> Mmm.

>> It is very bitter, I can taste the smoke, but it is incredibly delicious.

>> Pati Narrates: The final element is beef shank that was boiled for the broth.

>> It all comes together, and it all makes sense when she tells me that this mole is made for a certain occasion because you can really taste certain flavors or feelings or emotions.

You're really tasting them in the dish.

Thank you for teaching me.

>> It's an honor.

>> It's an honor too.

It's so delicious!

>> You are probably not gonna want to set your kitchen on fire.

I'm gonna show you an incredibly easy mole to make.

It's called Almendrado con Pollo.

I have a half of a white onion that I quartered, and then I'm gonna have 4 garlic cloves, but I'm leaving the skin on 'cause I want to protect the garlic cloves as they roast and become really, really smooth, and then I have 2 pounds of tomatoes, broil for about 8 - 10 minutes just until charred.

I have a whole cut up chicken, I cut the breasts in half, I'm gonna season this with a teaspoon of salt.

I have my casserole set over high heat, and I'm gonna add enough oil to just cover the bottom, and now I'm gonna brown my chicken for about 2 minutes per side, and I just want it to crisp and brown.

You don't want to overcrowd the pan.

[chicken sizzles] >> Let me wash my hands.

I'm seasoning with salt on top so that all of the chicken is seasoned.

While this browns, I'm gonna get my tomatoes out from the broiler because they must be ready.

It's looking really good.

I'm gonna puree all of my sauce ingredients in the bender, and I'm gonna flip the chicken.

My garlic cloves that roasted have cooled, I'm gonna remove the skin and you can see how the garlic transformed and turned completely into a paste.

Mmm, I love the roasted garlic flavor.

Now the chicken browned on both sides, so I'm taking it out.

I'm gonna set this here.

So I reduce the heat to low on this casserole where I'm gonna cook the sauce.

Now I'm gonna toast in this small skillet that I have over low heat 5 whole cloves, and also 12 black peppercorns, a stick of true cinnamon, so I need to break it, and I only need a 1-inch piece, now we want this to toast for, like, 10 seconds, we just want to the flavor to bloom.

These are ready, you can see the cinnamon toasted and some of its oils that you never see actually came out, so I'm adding it here in the blender along with the toasted peppercorns and whole cloves.

The last thing I'm gonna toast super fast is a teaspoon of dried oregano, and that I can just put in the pan, swirl it around for a few seconds, and put it into the blender because my skillet is already very hot.

I'm gonna puree this until completely smooth.

It smells like cinnamon and oregano and roasted tomato and it smells rich.

So I'm going to pour this sauce onto the hot oil, but the hot oil is already seasoned with the chicken.

[oil sizzles] >> It gets super jumpy, I mean ridiculously jumpy, so you want to close it super fast.

So I have it over medium heat, completely covered because this sauce jumps like crazy, and then one thing that I like to do, I have 2 cups of chicken broth, I'm gonna add it to the blender, and then I'm gonna quickly puree it again so that I get all of the sauce.

[blender whirs] >> So now that helped get everything that was stuck in the lid, see?

And I'm gonna pour this broth with the rest of the sauce, cover it, this is gonna simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes so the sauce really thickens and seasons, and meanwhile I'm going to slice about 1/2 a cup of manzanilla olives stuffed with pimentos, and I wanna cut them into thick slices so you can really bite into them.

Now I have my pickled jalapeños.

This is such a typical combination in Oaxaca, the savory olives, the briny pickled jalapeños, the almonds and raisins is just so typical and surprising.

So I have the whole pickled jalapeños and I'm cutting them into strips, and this is the one chile that goes in this Almendrado.

Let me check the sauce.

Mmm, this is looking good and I'm gonna add the chicken.

You can see the very few puddles of oil around the edges, which means that you already hit a nice level for cooking.

I'm adding the chicken, and then all the juices from the chicken are gonna be poured right in here.

I have the heat over medium.

So I'm adding 1/2 a cup of the olives, about 1/2 a cup of the pickled jalapeños, and then I'm gonna add 1/2 a cup of the slivered almonds, and then I'm gonna add 1/2 a half cup of raisins.

Lastly, I'm gonna add 1/4 cup of capers, which I'm going to mince a little.

Think about it, we added chunky things that you're gonna bite into along with the sauce, I mean, this dish is a gift!

It's just such a delicious thing.

So I'm gonna cover it, I'm gonna let this cook for about 20 minutes while I clean up.

>> Mmm, and you can see how the sauce looks so thick and look at those little bubbles, it's perfect!

Mole is always beautiful with a side of rice because then you have something to eat all that sauce with.

Mmm, it's so good.

The sauce is very rich, it has all those layers of spices and flavors and then the crunch of the almonds, the sweet of the raisins, mmm.

So maybe you had felt intimidated by making mole at home, but as you can see, it is time so well spent in the kitchen, and you're going to end up with two amazing family meals that are pleasing, that everybody's going to love, and you're gonna have great leftovers to keep on eating for the rest of the week.

Mmm.

♪ ♪ >> Pati Narrates: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit patijinich.com, and connect!

Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest @PatiJinich.

>> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: ♪ epic music plays ♪ ♪ ♪ >> The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.

Mexbest... and The National Agricultural council.

>> Introducing FUD Campirano Mexican cheeses with resealable packaging!

>> La Costeña, por sabor!

Taste that transcends.

More information at: mexicorico.com >> Some things are always there for you.

Like your alarm clock, right on time.

Your parking space.

Seriously?

Girl's night, always there.

And avocados from Mexico.

They're always there because they're fresh all year round.

>> ♪ Avocados from Mexico ♪ >> Proud to support Pati's Mexican Table on public television.