Traditional Mexican Mole by Chef Hailee Moore

Preheat oven to 400F.

Roast garlic, onion and tomato until soft.

In the meantime, saut almonds, peanuts and pecans in lard or vegetable oil until toasty, remove and set aside. Saute raisins in lard or oil, remove and set aside.

In a dry skillet over low heat, toast the chile seeds, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, cumin, anise and sesame seeds. Remove and set aside.

In a food processor or spice grinder, grind all spices until a powder consistency is reached. Remove and set aside. Then grind all nuts and raisins. Remove and set aside.

In a dry skillet, toast all chiles until a smoky aroma is released. Bring approximately 2 cups of water to a boil and remove from heat. Add toasted chiles to liquid and let soak for approximately 30 minutes.

Begin to saut plantain in lard over medium heat until a golden brown color is reached. Remove and set aside. In the same skillet brown cubed roll and set aside.

Remove garlic, onion, and tomatoes from oven and place in a blender with reserved plantain. Slowly blend all ingredients adding 1 and a half cups chicken stock until smooth. Strain. Add blended vegetables to a saut pan over low heat. Begin heating up the mixture.

By this time, chiles should be soft. Remove stems, seeds, and veins and add to blender along with the soaking liquid. Blend until smooth and add to vegetables in saut pan.

. Add cubes of bread, tortillas, and 1 cup of chicken stock to blender. Blend until mixture resembles that of sand and add to vegetable/chile mixture.

. Dissolve nut/raisin mix with 1 cup chicken stock and add to saut pan.

. Add spice mix and remaining one and a half cups of chicken stock. When liquid is simmering, add chocolate to the pan.

. Cook the mole and stir continuously for approximately 2 hours. Add stock, salt and pepper as needed. Note: The taste of the mole will change as it is stirred.<