Mexican Pork Mole

Do the Lambada if you like Mexican food. I love everything about the culture. – The dances, music, arts, and especially, the food. I tried my hand at a pork mole. Mole simply means sauce; a number of sauces.

Put on Santana, grab a Dos Equis and let’s get started…

You’ll Need:

1 Pork Tenderloin roast (cubed and unseasoned)

2 cups of onion, diced

2 Tablespoons of chili powder

1 Tablespoon of ground cumin

1 Tablespoon of cinnamon

1/2 cup of Dos Equis (drink the rest)

2 (14 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes

2 (4.5 oz.) cans of green chillies (fresh is best, but this will do)

1/2 cup of dark chocolate morsels

Splash of lime juice (fresh is best)

Cilantro, diced (garnish)

In a large pot, over medium heat spray in some olive oil. I use a Misto, or you can use PAM cooking spray. Brown your pork evenly for 10 minutes. Remove from the pot and set aside.

In the same pot, add in your chopped onion and cook until slightly tender. Add in your chili powder, cumin and cinnamon. Let the ingredients do the Rumba for about a minute or two. Join in the dance by stirring often.

Time for the Salsa. Add in your diced tomatoes, beer, dark chocolate and chilies. Once those simmer for a minute or two, bring it to a slow grind over medium-low heat. Let the pork join the party and simmer until hot and tender.

Serve it over rice, or by itself. Finish it with a squirt of lime and sprinkle with cilantro to garnish. The next time I make this, I will use fresh chillies.

What’s your favorite Mexican Mole? Please share with us because this girl likes to eat.

Cha Cha!

My friend Margaret and I attended a free Indian cooking class at Northland Public Library. I highly recommend it.

The Indian cook, Ann Manchella, prepared Kichidi (that’s the way she spells it. Most common is Khichari), a rice dish widely known in India as a comfort food. Ann demonstrated the preparation of the dish and served us tasty samples. – Reward without the effort. The only thing that would have stepped up this class is some Indian beer <wink>.

Here is the recipe and a few photos from the evening.

Split moong dal. This can be used in place of split red lentils. Either work well.

Done!

Ann and her team (husband), served the dish with plain yogurt and two spicy sauces. Love the spices in Indian food. I must get this.

The audience moaned when they were eating it.

We are headed back where Ann will make Puri, an unleavened Indian bread, to accompany Aloo Sabji, a potato curry; which I absolutely love.

Here is Ann’s recipe…

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of split red lentils, or split moong dal

1 cup basmati or other long-grain rice or brown rice

3 tablespoons of ghee or oil (ghee is easy to make. Click link for recipe)

1/3 cup of unsalted cashews

3 teaspoons of cumin seeds

1 tablespoon of fresh hot green chili, minced

2 tablespoons of minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons of turmeric

1 teaspoon of yellow asafetida powder

3 cups of mixed vegetables: Chopped green beans, carrots, cauliflower, spinach (Ann says that you can use whatever veges you like)

5-6 cups of water (if needed)

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

1 tablespoon of butter

1 cup of tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup of chopped coriander leaves

1 bunch of curry leaves

Instructions:

Boil water and add lentils or dal. After they are half-cooked, add rice and vegetables.
In a separate saucepan, heat the ghee over medium heat. When the ghee is hot, put asafetida followed by cumin seeds. Then add curry leaves, chilies and ginger. Add cashews and saute till they turn slight brown. Add tomatoes and spinach and cook them till the water from the tomatoes is gone.
Stir in the lentils and rice to they curry (once lentils and rice is 90% cooked). If the Kichidi dries out too much, add up to 1 cup warm water.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with yogurt, Lime Pickle and Bedekar Mango Chili sauces (pictured above).

All this was free, so click to register for upcoming programs or by calling the adult services reference desk at 412-366-8100, ext.113.

Thanks Ann! I really enjoyed your class.

Tag: spicy

Mexican Pork Mole

Indian Cooking Class 1 – Khichari