Destination
Puerto Vallarta
The story
Enmoladas are enchiladas made with mole instead of salsa: fresh tortillas dipped briefly in warm mole negro, filled with shredded chicken, rolled, arranged on a plate and drenched in more mole, then finished with crumbled queso fresco, thin-sliced red onion, sesame seeds and a fringe of chopped coriander. Where a regular enchilada is bright — red guajillo salsa, green tomatillo salsa, both with a fresh sharp edge — an enmolada is deep, dark, ancient, and complex. The mole hits you with 20 different flavours at once: chocolate, dried chili, burnt tortilla, plantain, sesame, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, allspice.
Method
Simmer the chicken with onion, garlic, bay, salt and water 25 minutes. Shred with two forks. Strain and reserve the broth.
Warm the lard in a heavy pot over medium heat. Whisk in the mole paste and cook 3 minutes, stirring, to bloom the flavours. Slowly pour in the stock, whisking constantly, until you have a thick sauce. Add the chocolate, salt and sugar. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring often, until glossy and slightly reduced. Taste and adjust — the finished mole should be sweet-bitter-spicy in equal measure.
Heat a dry heavy pan over medium-high. Warm each tortilla 15 seconds a side to soften. Stack in a towel.
In a separate pan, warm the 3 tbsp lard. Working one at a time, slide a tortilla into the hot lard for 3 seconds a side (this is the classical enchilada technique — a brief fry softens the tortilla and prevents cracking). Lift onto kitchen paper.
Working with warm, lightly-fried tortillas: dip each one in the warm mole for 3 seconds, coating both sides. Lift onto a plate.
Spoon 2 tbsp of shredded chicken down the middle of each mole-coated tortilla. Roll into a tight cylinder. Lay seam-down in a serving dish or on individual plates. Work fast — mole sets as it cools.
Ladle more warm mole generously over the rolled tortillas so they're fully covered. There should be a puddle of mole around them, not just a coating.
Scatter each portion with crumbled queso fresco, thin-sliced red onion, toasted sesame seeds and chopped coriander. Serve immediately with lime wedges. Four enmoladas per person is a proper Oaxacan portion; two is a starter.
Tips
- Bloom the mole paste. Warming the mole paste in lard for 3 minutes before adding the stock is what wakes up the dried-chile flavours. Skip this step and the sauce tastes flat.
- Adjust sweet and salty at the end. Every jarred mole is different. Taste after 10 minutes of simmering and adjust with sugar (if too bitter or spicy) or salt (if too sweet). It should be balanced.
- Lightly fry the tortillas. The 3-second lard fry is what stops the tortillas from splitting when you dip and roll. Skip it and half your tortillas will tear.
- Serve immediately. Mole thickens as it cools. Enmoladas held for 20 minutes turn into a solid brown lump. Assemble at the very last moment.
- Sesame seeds are the classical finish. Toasting them briefly in a dry pan wakes up the flavour. A scatter across the top is what visually marks the dish as Oaxacan.
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