This is another attempt to recreate a mole I experienced at a cooking class with Quinta Brava in Oaxaca. This didn’t turn out like the flavorful, dippable sauce they made (which was my favorite of the seven moles of Oaxaca), so I’ll have to do some more research into other recipes to figure out where I went wrong. This version created a paste which has a bit of zing, but not the same flavor punch. Combining it with fresh toppings and homemade fresh tortillas will make anything better, however, so this still made a tasty meal.

7 guajillo chiles
4 costeño amarillo chiles (this variety is different from costeño rojo chiles)
3 tomatoes (I used romas and chopped them roughly)
4 tomatillos (I used the small kind and quartered them)
1/8 (I used 1 small shallot and diced it)
3 garlic cloves (I minced them)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
4 allspice berries
4 peppercorns
5 cloves
Masa (I got a pack of fresh from a Mexican grocery and used the rest to make tortillas)
Chicken stock
Vegetable oil
Salt

Remove the seeds from the chiles. (I chopped roughly to make smaller pieces that would cook more efficiently.

Heat a skillet with vegetable oil (I used maybe 1/3 cup). Add all the dry ingredients and fry until…I guess you feel like it’s time for the next step.

Add the garlic and onions and continue to cook until the onions turn clear and golden. Add the tomatoes and tomatillos and cook until they get squishy.

Add chicken stock and boil for 5 minutes. (I used maybe 2 cups here, enough to cover the ingredients in the pan.)

Take off the heat and move it to a blender. Process the mixture (I went for as smooth a puree as I could get).

Strain the mole. (This is the step that tripped me up the most. Do I keep just the liquid? Just the solids? By this point, the solid matter had turned a dark greenish brown, so I thought I needed to keep the liquid and throw out the solids in order to get closer to an amarillo (yellow) color. In retrospect, maybe this was backwards and I needed to save the solids instead? This would have preserved more of the flavor, even with a rougher, darker consistency.)

Return to the stove and re-fry (“again altogether” — did this mean to re-combine the liquid and solid after straining? But why?).

Add some chicken stock and masa to the blender and combine until you get the right consistency (I think this should be a runnier consistency than what I got. I had a higher masa-to-stock ratio because I had a liquid-only mole by this point. Once I added it to the mixture on the stove, however, things got really thick and pasty.

Add some salt and season to taste. (I lost track of how much I added. What I had was bland, gluey, and slightly bitter for a long time as I kept throwing in more salt, more chicken stock, and even a little sugar. It was very, ever-so-slightly spicy. )

(It still turned a darker brownish color, so I didn’t get the “amarillo” that I was going for. Again, it was absolutely nothing like the golden-yellow sauce with the consistency of salsa that I remember eating in Oaxaca. It still tasted reasonably well on a tortilla as a binding agent for fresh ingredients, but there is definitely more work to be done here.)