Watch: Formula Food recipe – Mix up some Mole for Mexico!

Ingredients

• 2 Ancho Chillies or 2 fresh chillies
• 8 Bone in Chicken thighs
• 2 Chopped Brown Onions
• 2 Teaspoons Cumin
• 1.5 Teaspoons Cinnamon
• 3 Cloves of roughly chopped Garlic
• 50g Raisins
• 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter
• 4 Teaspoons of Chipotle Paste
• 400g Chopped Tinned Tomatoes
• 25g Dark Chocolate
• 1 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced into rings
• 1 Lime
• 150ml Soured Cream

Instructions

Pickled Onions

1. Thinly slice the red onion into rings.
2. Douse in the fresh lime juice, cover and leave in the fridge while you make the rest of this.

The Rest of the Mole

1. Soak the ancho chillies if you have them. If you don't have them, just grill some regular peppers until they are blackened and soft. Scrape out the flesh and mix with some smoked paprika.
2. Grab a big ole casserole dish and lightly oil it. Then brown off the chicken thighs in the pan. Once browned, remove and set aside.
3. Add the chopped brown onions to the pan and sweat. Once softened, dump in the cumin and cinnamon and stir well.
4. Grab either soaked chillies or grilled ones, discard the stalks and seeds, but keep the soaking water for later. Pop the chillies and 4 tbsp into a blender, along with the garlic cloves and raisins.
5. Blend.
6. Next, add in the peanut butter, if you aren't allergic, the chipotle paste, and the tinned tomatoes. Blend again.
7. Add in 400ml of water, swill out the tomato can for ease.
8. Blend again to mix. Can't blend it too much.
9. Dump the sauce onto the onions, and return the chicken to the pot. Simmer for an hour stirring occasionally.
10. Once simmered, take the thighs out, pull them apart and roughly shred before returning, bones and all, to the pot. Add in the dark chocolate at this point too.
11. Cook uncovered for a further 30 minutes, stirring well. If the sauce looks to be thickening up too much, just add some water. Ideally, the chilli water if you have it.
12. Serve with a big pile of fluffy white rice (or fancy it up with lime zest and coriander) and garnish with the pickled onions. You can also lay down the soured cream and some lime wedges too.

Recipe Notes

The pickled red onion is fantastic and I have a new guilty pleasure which is freshly pickled red onion tossed into any sandwich I'm making. So far the best has been with cold gammon! *dribbles*

Recipe by

Me, but with the encouragement of my non-existent Mexican ancestors.