Mole Negro, pronounced Mol-aye, translates to black sauce, mole meaning sauce, you are probably more familiar with guacamole (avocado sauce).
I love Mexican food, real Mexican food, not your knock off attempt at Mexican food mentioning no names but lets just say it rhymes with "tiquitos". Real Mexican food can often be quite labour intensive but I think the end results are worth the many steps. What intrigues me more than anything is the history behind Mexican food and how certain dishes that are cooked and celebrated today have a direct influence from the Spanish invasion, take the humble tomato and garlic for instance, this might not have ever been in Mexican dishes had it not have been for the Spanish, and like wise, we might not have ever had chocolate or chillies if we had not have invaded Mexico. Although the cuisine may use similar ingredients sometimes I do think that Mexican food is in a category all of it's own and cannot be beaten, especially Mole Negro.
There are many complexities to Mexican chillies, not like the gun ho mentality of how many Brits will use chillies, Mexican chillies are not only used for heat, but they are used to build layers of flavours, the many processes to preserve the thousands of varieties of chillies are mind boggling, but each way lends a flavour dimension that is unique, for instance Chipotle chillies are actually smoked jalapenos.
Mole negro uses a unique blend of chillies that are toasted to give the Mole it's unique black colour, and also Mexican chocolate tablets to add a little sweetness. I do recommend you use the genuine articles as they are so easy to source but if you cannot find the Mexican chocolate tablets I suggest that you substitute with 70% dark chocolate, a little extra sugar and cinnamon.
You will need:
For the Chicken
1 medium chicken 1.4-1.5kg in weight
2 medium tomatoes
a sprig of oregano
200g of white onions (cut in half no need to peel the skin off)
1 head of garlic
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tbsp of maldon salt
1 tsp of cracked black pepper
4 pints of chicken stock
Add all of the above ingredients in a large stock pot and bring it to the boil, allow the chicken to simmer for twenty minutes, then turn off the heat.
For the Mole Negro sauce:
5 guajillo Chillies
5 mulato chillies
5 pasilla chillies
3 chipotle chillies en adobo + 2 tbsp of adobo liquid
50g of lard
150g of chopped white onions
1 head of smoked garlic, all of the cloves peeled and roughly chopped
5 tomatoes halved
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 tsp of fennel seed
3 whole star anise
1 stick of cassia bark
4 cloves
1 tbsp of sesame seeds
25g of whole almonds
25g of peanuts
25g pecans
25g of raisins
1 tbsp of oregano
1 tbsp of thyme
1 large banana
3 medium tomatillos (if you cannot get this you can sub it with a jar of salsa verde)
2 1/2 tbsp of maldon salt (if using table salt half it)
50g of baguette
2 tbsp of masa harina
2 1/2 pints of the chicken stock from the chicken
2 mexican chocolate tablets
1 tbsp of brown sugar (optional I like it a little sweeter)
This is a lengthy process but is not a difficult one if you follow this to the letter. Make sure you have all of your ingredients prepared and at the ready.
Place a cast iron pan on a high heat, add the lard and fry the onions, tomatoes, tomatillos, bread and banana one at a time until a little charred, place all of these items into a bowl for later, then toast the nuts, garlic and raisins and place in the same bowl. You can either toast the chillies in the same pot or place them directly onto the gas flame until they soften and puff up slightly (you cannot toast the chipotles over an open flame if they are en adobo), then place the toasted chillies into the bowl with the other toasted ingredients.
Finally add the thyme and oregano with the spices and fry them for only a couple of minutes, add all of the contents of the bowl into the pan along with two and a half pints of the chicken stock from cooking the chicken and the en adobo liquid, add the salt and sugar and allow to bubble away for an hour.
Once an hour has passed all the ingredients should be very very soft. In a dry frying pan toast the masa harina until it is a very dark brown colour and add this to the pot and allow it to cook for a further five minutes. If you cannot get any Masa harina you could also use a toasted corn tortilla. Blend all of the contents of the pot until it is totally smooth and then pass it through a sieve and back into the pot to re heat.
The final crowning glory is adding the two mexican chocolate tablets, allow them to melt into the sauce. To serve place a little chicken onto a plate with a spoonful of sauce and then topped with sesame seeds. Serve this with green mexican rice!
Perfect.
I was recently asked if I could write a Yorkshire recipe for a charity cook book to help raise money for cancer, I jumped at the chance, I love doing anything I can for charity and I thought it sounded like fun. So Yorkshire recipes eh? This should be a doddle, after all half of me is from Yorkshire, I am only a semi Swede after all, firstly I looked through my blog recipes, not much in the way of Yorkshire recipes in there, I looked through my recipe scrap book, my most prized possesion, full of future posts, there must be something in there..... nothing. Then it dawned on me, I don't really cook British food, I hardly ever cook anything that is traditionally from Yorkshire, that's when I started to panic. Having grown up in a Scandinavian household I was brought up on completely different food to my friends, this clearly hindered my recipe mission, undeterred I though of things that I do like to eat from our lovely county. Of all the Yorkshire dishes I like to eat this has to be it.
My Yorkshire recipe is a classic using the finest grimsby smoked haddock but with a nod to my mother in all her culinary glory, classic fish cakes with a scandic twist.
For the fish
You will need:
400g of undyed smoked haddock
600ml of whole milk
2 bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns
1/2 a white onion
1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
Place all of the above ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to the boil, as soon as it begins to boil turn off the heat immediately and allow the fish to poach in the residual heat, this method will cook your fish to perfection.
For the Mash
3 large maris piper potatoes roughly 700g
25g of butter
100g of mayonnaise
2 tsp of maldon sea salt
2 tbsp of salted capers (soaked in water to get rid of excess salt)
1 tsp of dijon mustard
50g of finely chopped sweet gherkins
1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper
4 tbsp of chopped dill
2 tbsp of chopped parsley
2 tbsp of chopped chives
The trick to really good fishcakes is dry potatoes, I have found that if your potatoes are very dry the fishcakes are less delicate and absorb more flavour from the fish. I always start by cooking the potatoes whole in the oven like you would do jacket potatoes, whilst the potatoes are still hot scoop out the insides of the potatoes and pass it through a potato ricer or mash. Add the butter and mayonnaise and mix the potatoes until smooth, then add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, herbs, dijon and gherkins. Soak the capers in a little water for roughly ten minutes to remove any excess salt, finely chop the capers and add this to the mash, if the mash is a little too dry you can always add 50ml of the poaching milk from the fish. Remove the fish from the milk and separate the flakes of the fish, removing the bones and skin in the process. Lightly fold in the flakes of fish. Form and mould the fish cake mixture into 8 large fish cakes and then place them onto a baking tray and re-fridgerate for an hour.
For the crumb coating set out three dishes,seasoned flour in one,place two lightly whisked eggs another and breadcrumbs in the last dish. Dip each fishcake into flour first and coat well, then dip in the egg, then the breadcrumbs making sure they are well coated.
Fry each fish cake in a large frying pan with a knob of butter and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Cook the fish cakes five minutes a side until golden. Serve with a watercress salad and my fool proof tartar sauce.
Tartar sauce:
You will need
50g of finely chopped sweet gherkins
3 tbsp of finely chopped shallots
1 tsp of dijon mustard
2 tbsp of capers in salt (soaked, drained and finely chopped)
6 tbsp of mayonnaise
1 tsp of honey
1 1/2 tbsp of chopped dill
1 tbsp of chopped parsley
1/2 tsp of cracked black pepper
1 tsp of lemon juice
Add all of the above ingredients together and mix well, that's it!
This has to be one of my favourite little things to eat, it brings back incredible memories of Singapore, the culinary melting pot of south east Asia. Have you ever had a pre concieved notion of a country prior to visiting? I think in my mind I had already written off Singapore, I know it's crazy but before I travelled I thought that I hated big cities, I just want to publicly appologize to all you Singaporeans out there and mention that not only do I love big cities/ countries, Singapore was my favourite country in south east asia. If you love food this is the culinary epicentre of Asia, every cuisine that you could possibly think of is cooked here and is either completely authentic or has a Singaporean twist on the classic. For me breakfast in Singapore was a total revelation and I was instantly converted to the Singaporean way of starting the day, forget your toast and cereal, Singapore does breakfast how it should be. Each morning I would go to a local hawker stalls and peruse the many delights on offer, I did try a few various dishes, noodle soups, rotis, rice porridge, but I always came back to this dumpling, I became absolutely obsessed to the point where I would wake up a couple of hours earlier to get my fix, fearful that there would be no more and I would be left dumplingless. I know that this dumpling is most definately chinese in origin but this is my point i'm trying to make, you can get any cuisine you want in Singapore and it will be just as good if not better than the real thing. I will hold onto my days of sitting in a Hawker centre with a brightly coloured tray covered with dumplings forever, in the hope that I get back there some day. I have shown the traditional look of a char siu dumpling and also the American way of filling an open Bao, either way is delicious but I think the traditional is always best.
For the Filling Marinade:
You will need:
500g of belly pork
1 tbsp of five spice powder
1 tbsp of yellow bean paste
1 tbsp of hoisin sauce
1 tsp of ground white pepper
1 tbsp of shao xing rice wine
2 tbsp of honey
1 tsp of sesame oil
Add all of the above ingredients into a bowl and allow it to marinate for at least an hour, transfer onto a baking tray lined with foil and cook for two and a half hours at 170 degrees c. Half way through the cooking you may have to cover the pork with foil to stop it from burning. When the pork is cooked remove the crackling and dice it into a small fine dice.
For the sauce for the pork:
1 tbsp of shao xing rice wine
2 tsp of runny honey
1 tsp of hoisin sauce
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of black rice vinegar
1 finely minced Garlic clove
70ml of water
Combine all of the above ingredients in a pan and cook it for five to ten minutes on a high height until it begins to thicken to a syrupy consistency. Add the diced pork and stir it so that it is well coated. Set aside for later.
For the dough:
325g of strong white bread flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of maldon salt
100g of caster sugar
100g of melted lard
200ml of lukewarm water
25g of fresh yeast
Combine the sugar, lukewarm water and melted lard and stir well, this should be blood temperature, by this I mean you should be able to dip your finger into the liquid and feel virtually no change in temperature from the temperature of your body. When it is blood temperature add the yeast and stir well to dissolve.
In a bowl or mixer place the flour, salt and baking powder and then slowly pour in the yeast solution, mix this either by hand, then knead for 10-15 minutes or mix in a mixer using the dough hook for 5-10 minutes, the dough should become elastic, by this I mean it should be able to be stretched without tearing, if it is tearing knead for a further 5-10 minutes. When the dough is ready place it back into the bowl and cover it with cling film, allow it to rise for and hour or until it has doubled in size.
When it has doubled in size knock it back by punching all of the air out of the dough. Take a ping pong sized amount of dough and roll it out to a 3mm thick disc, take a tablespoon of cooled belly pork filling and place it in the middle of the disc, using the side of the edge and pull it and create a crimp 5mm along, carry on pulling, crimping until the top begins to close, give it one last twist to close the dumpling. Steam the dumplings four at a time in a chinese bamboo steamer for 15 minutes.
Enjoy!
I'm sure at some stage or another everyone has had a little battle with the bulge, I'm currently in the midst of banishing my post baby bulge from my behind forever. I think for most people "dieting" and "healthy food" can be deeply uninspiring, the mere utter of the word Diet usually has most people reaching for the nearest chocolate bar in a frenzy of shear dietary panic. Imagine a world that meant you could not only eat great tasting healthy food, you would also crave it, that's right I kid you not, this was so tasty it felt like a guilty pleasure. I know for most people the thought of eating raw fish can be really off putting, to those of you who are currently wrinkling their noses with disgust all I have to say is this, firstly it is not exactly raw it is cured in citrus juice which effectively cooks it, secondly don't knock it until you have tried it picky eaters.
The benefits of using sashimi grade tuna apart from it's obvious freshness is that tuna is not an overly fishy tasting meat, it absorbs all the flavours whilst still standing up to the robust citrus flavours and the punch of chilli. Traditionally this would be served with a great big plate of nacho chips, in an ideal world they would also be healthy but alas they are not, so I have teamed my tantalising tuna with soft corn tacos, handmade, no additional fats to tie in with this virtuous theme. I do urge people to step outside the culinary comfort zone and give dishes like this a little try because it can often open your eyes to a world of flavours you did not even know existed, besides don't you think you owe it to your bulge?
You will need: (for the Ceviche)
200g of sashimi grade tuna steak into a fine dice
70ml of fresh orange juice
30ml of lime juice
3/4 tsp cumin powder
1/2 a Finely chopped red onion
2-3 finely chopped fresh green jalapeno chillies (seeds and membrane in for heat, or without for wimps)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 large diced hass avocado
4 tbsp of freshly chopped coriander
1 1/4 tsp Maldon salt
For the Pico di Gallo salsa:
100g of chopped cherry tomatoes (or large tomatoes if in season)
1/2 a finely chopped Red onion roughly 3 tbsp worth
4 tbsp of freshly chopped Coriander
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 tsp of maldon salt
1 Freshly chopped green Jalapeno chilli
the juice of a Lime
1 small finely chopped garlic clove
2 tsp of sugar
For the corn tortillas
150g of masa harina
75g of plain flour
250ml of water
a pinch of maldon sea salt
For the ceviche, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and allow it to cure for at least an hour.
For the Pico di gallo, combine all of the ingredients for the salsa and allow to infuse.
For the flour tortillas mix all of the ingredients in a food processor and allow to mix for at least 10 minutes to stretch the gluten in the wheat flour, take a ping pong sized amount of dough and roll a disc roughly 3mm deep between two sheets of greaseproof paper, peel the disc off the greaseproof and fry in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes each side until lightly golden and air bubbles appear on the surface. Wrap all the tortillas in a tea towel to stay soft.
Place a couple of tablespoons of the ceviche onto a tortilla and a little salsa, wrap it up and wolf it down.
I love Mexican food, real Mexican food, not your knock off attempt at Mexican food mentioning no names but lets just say it rhymes with "tiquitos". Real Mexican food can often be quite labour intensive but I think the end results are worth the many steps. What intrigues me more than anything is the history behind Mexican food and how certain dishes that are cooked and celebrated today have a direct influence from the Spanish invasion, take the humble tomato and garlic for instance, this might not have ever been in Mexican dishes had it not have been for the Spanish, and like wise, we might not have ever had chocolate or chillies if we had not have invaded Mexico. Although the cuisine may use similar ingredients sometimes I do think that Mexican food is in a category all of it's own and cannot be beaten, especially Mole Negro. 
There are many complexities to Mexican chillies, not like the gun ho mentality of how many Brits will use chillies, Mexican chillies are not only used for heat, but they are used to build layers of flavours, the many processes to preserve the thousands of varieties of chillies are mind boggling, but each way lends a flavour dimension that is unique, for instance Chipotle chillies are actually smoked jalapenos.
Place a cast iron pan on a high heat, add the lard and fry the onions, tomatoes, tomatillos, bread and banana one at a time until a little charred, place all of these items into a bowl for later, then toast the nuts, garlic and raisins and place in the same bowl. You can either toast the chillies in the same pot or place them directly onto the gas flame until they soften and puff up slightly (you cannot toast the chipotles over an open flame if they are en adobo), then place the toasted chillies into the bowl with the other toasted ingredients. 
Once an hour has passed all the ingredients should be very very soft. In a dry frying pan toast the masa harina until it is a very dark brown colour and add this to the pot and allow it to cook for a further five minutes. If you cannot get any Masa harina you could also use a toasted corn tortilla. Blend all of the contents of the pot until it is totally smooth and then pass it through a sieve and back into the pot to re heat. 
