Born in the Wrong Century

This recipe is pretty intricate but boy am I glad my Mom picked it out to make this last Monday.  We each made our own batch and it’s super delicious!  We couldn’t get the exact dried chiles the recipe called for but the mix we made was not too spicy and the chipotle chiles gave a nice smoky undertone.  There was enough mole sauce for me to freeze 4 pints to use later and I used the rest on half of my turkey meat (I used a heritage turkey so there wasn’t a lot of meat).  I don’t know if I’ll make the recipe again the way I’ve written it but I did freeze a couple quarts of the leftover turkey broth so I can just make a batch of the mole sauce and skip cutting up a turkey to boil.  I think it would be very tasty on pork 

A long process but worth every minute when you dig into your plate of turkey mole!

{Recipe} Turkey Mole
(adapted from Gourmet Today)
1 turkey (10-12 lbs), cut into serving pieces
6 Tbsp lard
4 quarts cold water
6 dried ancho chiles
4 dried chipotle chiles
4 dried hot red chiles
2 cups boiling water
1 lb tomatoes, chopped and save juices
1 lb white onions, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
2 Tbsp masa harina or 2 corn tortillas, torn
1 cup almonds, blanched
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
2 whole cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick, ground fine
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1-1/2 oz Mexican chocolate, chopped
1 Tbsp sugar, or to taste
Sea salt

Rinse the turkey pieces well after you have cut up the turkey, pat dry and season with sea salt.  Brown in batches in a dutch oven with the lard (reserve the dutch oven and lard for later).  Put browned pieces of turkey in a large stock pot and cover with cold water, add 2 tablespoons sea salt and bring up to a boil.  Skim off any foam and simmer, uncovered, for 1-1.5 hours or until the turkey is cooked through.  Place the turkey pieces in a bowl and allow the broth to cool.  Removed the fat from the top of the broth and stain out impurities.  (This can be done a day before you plan to serve your mole.  Just put the turkey pieces back in the broth and store in the fridge.)

Meanwhile make the mole.
Remove the stems, seeds & ribs from the dried chiles.  Tear into pieces and place in a bowl.  Cover with the boiling water, use a plate to keep the chiles submerged and let soak for 30 minutes.  Use a blender to puree the chiles, their soaking liquid, tomatoes, their juices, onions, garlic, masa harina and 2 cups of the turkey broth (this will take a few batches).  Place the chile mixture into a large bowl and mix all the batches together well.

In a food processor mix the almonds, peanuts, raisins, coriander seeds, anise seeds, cloves, cinnamon, 2 Tbsp of the sesame seeds and enough turkey broth to form a paste.  Stir the paste into the chile mixture.

In the reserved dutch oven heat up the lard and add in the chile mixture.  Simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened.  Add in the chocolate and enough turkey broth (about 4 minutes) to make the sauce the consistency of cream.  Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally so the sauce doesn’t stick.  Season to taste with the sugar and sea salt.  (This can be done a day before you plan to serve your mole.  Just cool the sauce and store in the fridge)

Put the turkey pieces into the mole and simmer until heated through (I pulled the meat off of my turkey pieces so I could freeze my extra mole sauce and half of my turkey).  Serve with rice, corn tortillas, black beans or anything else you like.  Sprinkle the extra sesame seeds over the top