Authentic Mexican Mole Chicken

This past week, I received a request for the authentic Mexican Mole (Mo-lay) dish. I have never had Mole, let alone made it, so this was a fun adventure I was looking forward to. I searched all around for a recipe that sounded the best to me. This dish can be made with chicken, beef, or pork...I used chicken.

Warning: This is NOT a Gluten-free friendly dish and as far as I know, there is no way to convert it to gluten-free (if you know of a way, please share!). Since I am gluten-free, I was unable to try it myself, so I decided to invite a few people over to be my food critics for the night. :) Over all, they absolutely loved the dish! Some of the comments were:
"I love all of the different flavors"
"The chocolate taste is great in the dish"
"Tastes a lot like curry in a way- texture and taste"
"The chicken is very moist"
"A fun and different dish that you don't eat everyday"
"Really good, worth the wait"

The only "negative" comment that I received was only from one of the people trying the dish and they said that it "needed salt." But other than that, everyone had great things to say. One person did comment and say that "if you don't like curry, then you won't like this dish." I found it very interesting that a Mexican dish was reminding them so much of an Indian dish. It does use some of the same spices, so that may be why.

As the cook, the only thing that I would have to say "negatively" about this dish is that it takes time...LOTS of time. I think it took me around 2 1/2 hours. So if you do decide to make this, make sure you have plenty of time to spare! There are just a lot of steps to this recipe and a lot of ingredients to chop, etc. However, one of the reviews I got was that it was worth the wait! I also made a few adjustments to this recipe as well. I couldn't find a poblano pepper, so I used an Anaheim instead and I left out the fire roasted tomatoes and raisins. I served it over my favorite: Jasmine rice. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. Try this out yourself and tell me what you thought!

Ingredients

3 tbsp. vegetable oil
8 chicken thighs (or use chicken pieces like legs)
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 can(14 oz.) fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup raisins
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (these are sold in small cans in every grocery store in a Mexican area)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup dark Mexican beer, or any dark beer would be fine
2 tbsp. peanut butter
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 squares (1oz. each) unsweetend chocolate (for baking), chopped

Directions

1.Heat oil in a lg. skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and brown on all sides, set aside.
2.In the same skillet, sautee onion, bell pepper, poblano pepper and garlic. Cook and stir until veggies are soft and slightly caramelized. 3.Stir in chili powder, cumin and cinnamon and cook 3 minutes longer.
4.Add tomatoes, raisins, chipotle peppers, chicken broth, beer, peanut butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook 20 minutes, stirring often.
5.Pour the sauce into a blender or food processor and add chocolate. Cover and blend until smooth.
6.Transfer the chicken into the dutch oven, or a deep heavy cooking pot, or skillet. Pour sauce over chicken. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Serve warm over cooked white rice with warm tortillas. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with fresh cilantro, if desired.

*Original recipe from grouprecipes.com