Enmoladas de Pollo Oaxaqueñas
(en-mo-lah-das de po-yo wa-ha-ken-yas)
El Arte de los Moles: Demystifying the Sauces
Mole is the undisputed king of Oaxacan cuisine—a beautiful, complex beast of a sauce that usually demands days of roasting and grinding to perfect. But let’s be brutally honest about how a working mother gets dinner on the table on a Tuesday. She doesn't grind thirty ingredients on a metate; she goes to the market, buys a kilo of fresh mole paste, and works her magic to wake it up. By aggressively frying a commercial paste, thinning it with real broth, and melting in a wedge of Mexican chocolate, you can hack your way to profoundly authentic flavor in twenty minutes. Paired with a store-bought rotisserie chicken and a quick, mandatory oil bath for the tortillas, this is uncompromising, honest-to-god homeland comfort food on a weeknight schedule.
Before you start
Source a quality mole paste.
Mole Negro Mayordomo is the gold standard if you have a local Latin market. If not, the ubiquitous Doña Maria jars found in standard grocery store international aisles will work just fine once doctored with the chocolate and peanut butter.
Ingredients
- neutral oil or pork lard1 tbsp
- mole paste8 1/4 oz
- chicken broth3 cup
- Mexican table chocolate15 g
- smooth peanut butter1 tbsp
- white or yellow corn tortillas12 med
- neutral oil1/3 cup
- cooked chicken3 cup
- Queso Fresco1/2 cup
- Crema Mexicana1/4 cup
- white or red onion1/2 small
- sesame seeds2 tbsp
Method
- 01
Fry the mole paste in hot oil to wake up the dormant spices.
Heat a spoonful of oil or lard in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Drop in that sticky commercial paste and aggressively press it into the hot fat with a wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes. This cooks off the flat, preservative jar taste.
- 02
Gradually hydrate the paste with warm chicken broth.
Slowly pour in one cup of the broth, whisking constantly to dissolve the dense paste. Once it's smooth, whisk in the remaining two cups of broth, the wedge of Mexican chocolate, and the peanut butter to restore the nutty depth the factory processed out.
- 03
Simmer the mole until it reaches the consistency of heavy cream.
Lower the heat and let the sauce gently bubble for 5 to 7 minutes until the chocolate melts and it coats the back of a spoon. Keep it warm over the lowest heat setting.
- 04
Briefly pass the corn tortillas through hot oil.
This is non-negotiable. Heat the third of a cup of neutral oil in a separate skillet over medium-high. Fry each tortilla for just 5 to 8 seconds per side. You want them pliable, not crispy. This lipid barrier stops them from disintegrating into mush when they hit the wet mole.
- 05
Dip the softened tortillas in the hot mole and assemble.
Working quickly, completely submerge a softened tortilla in the warm mole sauce. Move it to a plate, add a handful of warm shredded chicken slightly off-center, and fold it in half like a taco. Repeat until your plate is full.
- 06
Garnish heavily and serve immediately.
Ladle an extra spoonful of hot mole over the assembled tortillas. Drizzle with Crema Mexicana, scatter the Queso Fresco, and throw on the raw onion rings and toasted sesame seeds. Enmoladas wait for no one—eat them right now.
Notes
Do not skip the tortilla's oil bath.
Dropping a raw, cold corn tortilla into a wet, simmering sauce guarantees instant mush. Frying it for a few seconds creates a structural barrier and is the difference between a sad casserole and a true enmolada.
Rotisserie chicken is a perfectly authentic weeknight hack.
In Mexico, cooks frequently buy pre-poached, shredded chicken at the market specifically for these kinds of dishes. Save your time and energy for doctoring the sauce.
From Oaxacan Roots.