>> Pati Narrates: Whenever I travel, I always look forward to meeting with my fellow women chefs and cooks from all over Mexico.

Oaxaca is different.

[crowd cheers] >> Narrator (continues): Women here are proud, passionate, powerful, and cooking is a shared experience that gives the food a whole other meaning.

>> All these dishes are so important because they have been done for centuries >> Narrator: Today I'm joining the sisterhood and getting a taste of a traditional Oaxacan celebration.

In my kitchen, two recipes inspired by those incredible women.

A rich Mole Coloradito.

And a chunky and savory Mashed Potato Cazuela.

And one for the women who inspire me in my own family, an easy and delicious almond and chocolate leche cake.

>> The moment it goes in your mouth, it just melts.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: >> 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 ♪ >> La Costeña, por sabor!

Taste that transcends.

More information at mexicorico.com >> Introducing FUD Campirano Mexican cheeses with resealable packaging!

>> The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.

Mexbest, and The National Agricultural Council.

♪ epic music plays ♪ ♪ ♪ >> We've all heard the word "mole" before, and most of us have been intimidated by it, but here's the thing: making mole is a great excuse to jump in your kitchen, use all your favorite tools, and making this mole is so much fun.

We are going to make a Mole Coloradito.

A mole has to have ingredients that have been transformed and then added in layers.

That's how you get the magic of mole.

I'm gonna begin with roasting and toasting my ingredients.

So I have one slice of white onion, and then I have 5 unpeeled garlic cloves, and I'm keeping the skin on so that the garlic will roast and toast in there and get really mushy.

I'm gonna seed and stem 6 ancho chiles and 5 guajillo chiles.

Typically, moles are a communal dish.

If I were in Mexico, my aunts and my cousins would be here making the mole with me.

Don't worry about the smoke and the fumes because that just means the chiles are doing what they need to do before you rehydrate them.

I'm gonna place the chiles along with a pound of ripe tomatoes into the saucepan.

I'm gonna cover it with water, and then it's gonna simmer over medium heat for about 12 - 15 minutes.

What we're going for is a complete transformation of each ingredient.

It's like their hidden personality has come out, a side that you hadn't seen that onion and the garlic had, now they have.

Now I'm gonna toast 1 cinnamon stick, 6 black peppercorns and a 1/4 cup of slivered almonds.

Then I'm gonna toast 1 teaspoon of dried oregano.

And then 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds.

The women of Oaxaca have a special role in celebrations, but there seems to be a celebration every single day in Oaxaca so there's a lot of food that relates to that, and this mole coloradito is one of their favorite ones.

What I have here is a baked plantain.

I made a couple cuts, covered it in aluminum foil, and then wrapped it tightly and put it in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes until it's completely soft.

This is going in the blender too, everything's going in the blender.

I'm gonna add 2 tablespoons of raisins, 1 tablespoon of grated piloncillo, piloncillo is the purest form of cane sugar.

It's gonna give the whole thing a little bit more oomph.

The name of this mole is coloradito, in Spanish you say that something is coloradito when you blush, so if somebody says something flattering to you and you blush, you would say - [Pati laughs] >> Okay, and I'm also going to add about a cup of this cooking liquid.

I start slow and then I speed it up because I take really good care of it, and that is a really good way of taking care of your blender.

[sauce blends] >> It's completely pureed, and it smells like everything that we put in here.

It smells like plantain, it smells like chile, like almonds.

I have a whole chicken that I cut up into serving pieces, I'm gonna add about a teaspoon of salt.

I'm also gonna add pepper.

I'm gonna set these over medium-high heat, and then I'll add just enough oil to have a thin layer in the bottom of the pot, so we're not gonna deep fry the chicken, but I do want enough oil to season with the flavor of the chicken so that my mole can finish off there.

I need the oil to be really hot because I don't want to cook the chicken entirely, I just want to brown the outside.

We're doing it in batches.

I'm gonna give it a minute to two minutes per side.

By taking this step you're giving a nice seasoning base for the sauce to cook in.

I'm gonna reduce the heat to medium-low, and this is gonna super jump and super react.

I'm gonna mix that up.

You have to protect yourself with the lid because it really jumps everywhere.

For this mixture to come together, we have to cook it down and let it simmer until it becomes the mole it's supposed to be.

After 5 or 6 minutes, I'm gonna add 2 cups of chicken broth, and then I'm gonna add one 3-ounce tablet of Mexican chocolate.

Mix that up, and that chicken I had browned, I'm gonna add it back in.

The chicken's gonna cook in here for 20 minutes, and what's gonna happen is the sauce is gonna come together beautifully as it cooks the chicken.

>> Pati Narrates: This is a Tijuana.

a Tijuana is very proud... about her food, about her dress, about her position in society.

>> There is an area of Oaxaca called the Istmo de Tehuantepec where women have a really, really, really strong role.

>> Narrator: Yvette's family comes from that Tehuantepec region in Oaxaca.

>> - celebration, I'm so grateful!

>> And she's invited me to imajore demure Imajore demure is a huge community party that celebrates the local patron Saint.

As I walked into the courtyard, I saw so many women hard at work cooking for the party.

>> Everybody's so beautiful!

>> Women from Istmo de Tehuantepec are well known because they're beautiful ladies, and the strength of the women, it's really important.

>> They're women with a lot of confidence.

>> The Istmo is known as a matriarchy.

>> Right.

>> So the women are the ones who - >> They administrate.

>> They administrate the money in the house so it'll last.

Women are in charge of business, in charge of their homes, in charge of running the lives of their family, but they just do it with a lot of pride and confidence and it is really great to see women in that position.

The food from the Istmos is very different from the valley of Oaxaca where the city of Oaxaca is.

Okay, so now the cooking is happening.

>> Yeah, we work together as a team.

>> Pati Narrates: And no wonder they need a team, with all the food they were making!

Tamales.

>> Mmm.

>> It's so good.

>> Narrator: Shrimp salad.

>> So delicious!

>> And the most special dish of them all is Asado de Bodas.

>> Mmm.

>> Narrator: This is no simple beef stew.

Mixed with a variety of tropical fruits and spices, it is cooked for hours and hours until it develops a rich, complex flavor.

>> How many ingredients go in?

>> 30?

>> It takes so long to do it, it takes like - >> It goes together with puree de papa.

>> Narrator: Puree de Papa is a mashed potato casserole that seems inextricably linked to the stew.

>> Mmm.

This is so multi-layered.

>> Yeah.

You can taste all the different flavors, the fruit, the cinnamon.

>> Very fruity and mmm.

>> Very good.

>> Narrator: Even the variety of tortilla chips spoke to the resourcefulness of these women.

>> You save that for a rainy day!

>> So that's why the women from the Istmos are such good planners.

>> Right.

>> Even, like, the food they make, you're always planning ahead.

Food at a celebration like this is so abundant.

>> In my family since I can remember I was labelled a tomboy.

I was never part of a sorority or any kind of women's girlie anything.

>> Mmm.

>> I was part of this kind of a sisterhood for a day in Oaxaca.

I mean, this is incredible, you - they welcome you, I'm so lucky they invited me, and I already feel like I'm part of a sisterhood, see?

They're pulling me, she's, like, "eat more, eat more".

>> Okay.

>> We have to do that to our kids, we have to teach them how to learn how to respect our culture, and that's why all these dishes are so important, because some of them have been made for centuries.

>> It's so delicious!

And what's that drink?

>> This is the good stuff.

>> Mmm.

Mmm!

I'm definitely part of the sisterhood now.

>> Ahh, yes you are now.

>> I like it!

>> We want to invite you to be a real part of it, and we have a beautiful dress for you for the party, so we want you to get dressed as a typical Tijuana so if we can go and change, that would be amazing so you can just join the party as a complete Oaxaca Tijuana woman.

>> I'm in!

Thank you!

♪ ♪ >> In the end, it's a big celebration.

Everybody's so happy and so joyous and so proud.

After all the work and all the cooking, everybody's rejoicing and eating that food and dancing until their feet hurt.

And I have really enjoyed it, and I love being a part of a kind of a sisterhood for once.

>> I have something that's ridiculously easy to match that Mole Coloradito.

It's a Mashed Potato Cazuela.

I'm gonna salt this water and this mashed potato cazuela is so traditional of the Istmo de Tehuantepec, that region of Oaxaca where the women rule more than anywhere else in the world.

To begin, I'm gonna cook 3 pounds of potatoes that I cut into bite-sized pieces for about 10 - 12 minutes, or until they're soft.

I'm gonna do about a cup of chopped white onion, and that's gonna season the cazuela, and since I already added 3 tablespoons of butter in there, I need to chop that onion fast.

>> And I'm adding a teaspoon of salt, and pepper.

And then I'm gonna add 2/3 of a cup of Mexican crema.

You can find it, you just need to look for it, it's there.

>> I'm gonna add a tablespoon of yellow mustard.

I know, I was asking the same thing, like, what's the deal with a yellow mustard in Oaxaca?

Oaxaca, like all of the regions from Mexico, developed a cuisine between the old world and the new world, and one of the ingredients that really grew strong roots in Oaxaca is yellow mustard.

Into the boiling water, I'm gonna add a half pound of chopped carrots, and they're just gonna cook for one minute.

I'm gonna lightly beat one egg, it's just gonna help the potato casserole bind a little bit better as it bakes in the oven.

Mix that in here.

We have the carrots, and now I add one cup of fresh peas, and I'm just gonna cook them for 30 seconds, I don't want them to get too mushy.

I'm gonna add a 1/3 of a cup each of chopped manzanilla olives stuffed with pimentos, and chopped picked jalapeños.

>> You could put this in a baking dish and make it a gigantic cazuela, or you can put this in ramekins and make individual cazuelitas.

And now these go in the oven, which is at 350 degrees, for about 20 minutes.

And now a recipe inspired by the women in my family, an Almond and Chocolate Leche Cake.

This is probably one of the easiest cakes you will have ever made, and you're gonna love it, and you're gonna wanna make it again and again.

So I have 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate that I broke into pieces, and now I'm gonna add 1 cup of unsalted butter that is already at room temperature so that it can melt along with the chocolate.

While that melts, I'm going to puree 4 eggs and 1 can and a 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk.

I used to eat a very similar cake to this when I was growing up in Mexico with my mom and my sisters.

One of her favorite places had a chocolate cake that we all used to love so very much.

Here I am trying to nail that cake, it really reminds me of times that I spent with my mom and my sisters together eating chocolate cake which is one of the things that we love to do the most.

As that continues to melt, I'm going to puree, and remember to start slowly with your blender.

Here it comes.

I want all of it, every little drop.

You are gonna love this cake, you are gonna love this cake!

I'm gonna mix 1.5 cups of almond flour.

I'm adding a half teaspoon of baking soda, and a half teaspoon of baking powder, and a pinch of salt.

The last thing I'm gonna add, and I know it's very weird but it makes the cake so incredibly wet and moist, is a 1/4 cup of boiling water.

I have a springform pan that I buttered and floured, and I cut a piece of parchment paper and stuck it in the bottom because this is a moist, sticky, wet cake.

It smells like a chocolate covered marzipan took a bath in sweetened condensed milk.

So we're gonna put this in the oven that I have preheated at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

[birds chirp] >> Okay, so now you can see why it's called coloradito!

It's full of color, but I'm gonna add two last things that I realized it's traditional to do in Oaxaca.

Inside of the mole, you want your vegetables.

You know chayote squash, right?

If you don't, you must.

It's a delicious vegetable that's in the squash family.

It has a delicious, crisp bite if you don't overcook it.

And then I'm gonna add the pound of green beans that I already cut.

This is gonna cook here for 5 or 6 minutes.

>> Whenever you have mole, you need to have tortillas on the side.

That's a lot of tortillas for me, but I guess I can make it happen.

Mmm!

Smells and looks beautiful.

So it's all covered in that sauce, but after you eat that sauce you're gonna be happy that everything's covered in that sauce.

Mmm.

Mmm!

Divine.

It has a little kick, but after you've eaten it.

It's silky and slick, I feel a little bit of the nuttiness from the sesame seeds and the almonds, and you get that hint of the chocolate.

Let me try with the chicken, some of that chayote, it's nice and hard and crisp.

So good!

So the chicken really is so moist and juicy inside, not dry at all even though it was cooking in there with the mole but since we did that brown first and then cook after in the sauce it's not getting drowned in the sauce in terms of flavor.

The mashed potato is begging to be drenched in that same sauce.

Mmm.

And the mashed potato still has the chunks of the potato that are so nice to bite into, and then it has the bites of carrot and peas, and it's savory from the olives and the pickled jalapeños are such a nice surprise.

>> Because we all could use a little bit more sugar.

Ooh, ta-da!

You can see how incredibly wet it is.

Now the taste test.

Mmm.

The moment it goes in your mouth, it just melts and disappears.

It's fluffy and spongey.

The sweetening just comes from the sweetened condensed milk, and it really makes a difference.

I really think that these recipes are a good tribute to not only the women from Oaxaca, but the women in my life.

♪ ♪ >> 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.

>> FUD brand meats with traditional hispanic flavor!

>> 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.