Chicken in Mole Sauce with Crispy Corn Crust
This Chicken in Mole Sauce Casserole takes a bit of time, because you’ll be slow-cooking the chicken thighs, but the time makes for the most flavorful, delicious, thick, Mole Sauce! So good!
Crisp corn Crust from Ottolenghi Simple, p 236.
- Prep Time: 20-30 min.
- Cook Time: 60 min cook + 35 min. bake
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Stove and Oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
Scale
For the Chicken in Mole
- 1 Tbsp (15ml) Olive or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Medium Onion (any color), diced small
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp Dried Oregano
- 2 tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Allspice
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt, plus more, to taste
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper, plus more, to taste
- 1–2 canned Chipotle Chiles (from canned Chile in Adobo)
- 1–2 Tbsp Adobo sauce (from canned chile in Adobo)
- 2 Tbsp Smooth Peanut Butter (all-natural or regular)
- 1–14.5 oz (411g) Tomato Puree or Crushed Tomatoes
- 1 oz. (30g) Dark Chocolate (70% + Cacao preferred)
- 1 1/2 cup (350 ml) Chicken or Vegetable Stock
- About 1 3/4 lb. (.80 kg) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs, around 8-9 thighs
- Handful of chopped Cilantro Leaves
For the Crust:
- 4 cups (18 oz, 500g) Fresh or Defrosted Frozen sweet corn kernels
- 5 Tbsp (70g) Unsalted Butter, melted
- 3 Lg Eggs, Yolks and Whites separated
- 3 Tbsp (43ml) Milk (Whole prefered, 2% ok)
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
Instructions
Make the Mole Sauce with Chicken:
- Gather all of your ingredients. Dice the onion, mince the garlic. Measure and mix together spices. Dice the chile and measure the adobo sauce. Measure the chicken/veg stock.
- In a large (10″) heavy skillet over Medium heat, add the oil. When it shimmers, add the diced onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are translucent and nicely soft, about 8-10 minutes. If the edges begin to brown or burn, add an additional Tbsp (15ml) oil.
- Add the minced garlic, stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the oregano, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, salt and pepper. Stir until onions are coated. Then add the diced chipotle chile (or 2 if you prefer it spicy), adobo sauce (2 Tbsp if you like it spicy!), and peanut butter.
- Pour in the tomato puree, stir to incorporate, then add the chopped chocolate, and stir until melted. Pour in the stock and stir until combined. Heat a minute or two, to a low boil, then taste, and add extra salt (I added 1/2 tsp more) and pepper if desired.
- Add the chicken thighs into the liquid, making sure they are covered. Lower heat to Medium-Low or whatever temperature on your stove maintains a simmer, where it is gently bubbling but not splattering. For my stove this was somewhere between “Simmer” and “Low”. Continue to cook for 45 minutes, turning chicken every 10 minutes or so. The sauce should reduce nicely and thicken. After 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 360F/180C (Convection/Fan) or 375F/190C (Conventional), and make the Corn Crust. Just before removing from the stove heat, add in the chopped cilantro leaves, stirring to combine.
Make the Corn Crust and Bake:
- Into a blender or food processor, place the corn kernels, melted butter, milk, and egg yolks. Process just until it turns into a paste, maybe 45-60 seconds. Pour the paste into a large bowl.
- In another bowl, and using a whisk, or a hand- or stand-mixer, whip the egg whites just until firm. Gently fold into the corn mixture, then spread over the fully cooked Chicken Mole skillet.
- Place in preheated oven and bake 35 minutes until mostly browned, rotating after 20 minutes, and covering lightly with foil if it begins to get too brown.
- Remove from oven and serve!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 recipe
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