Mole Ranchero de Pollo

For the chicken

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat, then add salt, the garlic cloves, onion, and chicken pieces.

2. Cover and cook until the chicken is tender and thoroughly cooked through, about 45 minutes.

   Then 45 min of waiting

For the mole sauce

3. Deseed and de-stem all the dried chiles (negro, pasilla, mulato).

4. In a dry skillet over medium-low heat, toast the sesame seeds, stirring constantly, until lightly browned and fragrant.

   Keep the sesame seeds moving constantly or they will burn and turn bitter.

5. Transfer the toasted sesame seeds to a molcajete (or food processor) and grind them into a fine paste.

6. Heat a generous splash of vegetable oil in the skillet, then briefly fry the peppercorns, allspice berries, and cloves until aromatic, about 1 minute.

7. Add the fried spices to the ground sesame seeds in the molcajete and grind everything together until smooth.

8. In the same hot oil, fry the deseeded dried chiles in batches until puffed and fragrant, taking care not to burn them.

   Dried chiles burn in seconds; remove them as soon as they change color and puff up.

9. Transfer the fried chiles to a large pot, then add the ground sesame spice mixture, the whole chocolate tablet, the fried tortilla, the fried crackers, the fried bolillo, and the sautéed aromatics (garlic, tomato, tomatillo, serrano pepper, onion).

10. Fry the corn tortilla in the skillet until crisp, then transfer to the large pot with the chiles.

11. Quickly fry the savory crackers in the skillet until golden, about 30 seconds, then transfer to the chile pot.

12. Fry the bolillo slices in the skillet until golden on both sides, then add to the chile pot.

13. Sauté the garlic cloves, chopped tomato, tomatillo, serrano pepper, and onion in the skillet until softened and lightly charred, 4–5 minutes.

14. Ladle hot chicken broth from the boiling chicken pot into the large pot of chiles and aromatics until everything is submerged.

15. Allow the chiles, bread, and crackers to soak in the hot broth until completely soft, about 10 minutes.

    Then 10 min of waiting

16. Blend the soaked chiles, spices, bread, and aromatics with enough broth in batches until completely smooth.

17. Heat a splash of oil in a large clay cazuela (or heavy pot) over high heat, then carefully pour in the blended mole sauce.

18. Stir the mole continuously as it comes to a simmer to prevent sticking and burning at the bottom.

19. Stir in two pinches of sugar to balance the flavors.

20. Add the cooked chicken pieces into the simmering mole sauce.

21. Simmer the chicken in the mole sauce over medium-low heat for 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally, so the chicken absorbs the mole flavor.

    Then 10 min of waiting