Cinco de Mayo and Chicken Mole

I really shouldn't be celebrating Cinco de Mayo being of French heritage.  Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the battle of Puebla between the Mexican and French people.  Obviously, the Mexican won!  But, I have forgiven them since they have such a great influence on my choice of food, next to the Italians, of course!

To celebrate this day, I made Chicken Mole from Chocoley chocolate.  Remember all that chocolate I received?  I still have a few alot of creations up my sleeve!  I have to warn you about this chocolate.  It's so good right out of the bag, you may not have enough for the recipe!  They are still offering you a discount of 15% when you use the coupon code: wendyfaves15  Take advantage of this especially if you are into candy making, etc.

The secret ingredient in this recipe is chocolate.  Years ago I tried this chicken at a restaurant, mostly out of curiosity.  I was sold back then, but thought it had so many ingredients and it could be very time consuming.  Until, I found and adapted a recipe from Paula Deen!  Thanks, Paula.  I hope you don't mind I switched it up a bit!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

1 can diced tomatoes, drained first

1 chipotle pepper, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

2 Tbsp peanut butter

3 oz. dark chocolate (I used Chocoley chocolate!)

10 oz. chicken broth

about 8 boneless chicken thighs (you can use breast pieces, etc)

white rice

flour or corn tortillas

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil on medium heat and add the onion.  Cook until translucent.  Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin and cinnamon and stir for about 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, peppers, broth, chipotle, peanut butter and chocolate.  Then reduce the heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.  Cool slightly and puree in a blender.  Set aside.

In the same clean skillet,  add the chicken pieces and brown on medium high.  Have an oven proof pan or casserole dish handy.  Arrange chicken and pour the mole sauce over the top.  Braise for about an hour.  I covered mine for the first 30 minutes, then removed the foil covering to finish off.

Serve over rice with tortillas!  Serves approximately 6 people.  Wonderful.  And you can taste that delicious chocolate in there!  More chocolate in the future!

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