Mole Poblano

Remove and discard seeds and stems from chiles. Place chiles in saucepan, cover with water, bring to boil, remove from heat and let chiles stand until soft. Place chocolate in bowl, cover with warm tap water and let stand 10 minutes, until slightly softened but not dissolved. In a large, heavy skillet or Dutch oven combine peanuts, almonds, sesame seeds, raisins, anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves, peppercorns, garlic and 1 onion slice. Cook over low heat, uncovered, very gently for 30 minutes, stirring often to keep from burning. Place in bowl and cover generously with water. Soak until slightly softened, making them easier to grind. Drain chiles. In batches, combine some of chiles and some of cooked onion mixture, fried tortilla and chocolate in blender and blend until finely ground. To facilitate blending, add chile soaking liquid and liquid in which nuts and spices were soaked. Sauce should be very fluid rather than a paste. Put through sieve to eliminate solids. Add sugar and salt to taste. Heat oil in 3 quart pot. Add remaining onion slice and cook until lightly browned. Add sauce mixture to onion and oil and simmer 15 minutes. Sauce can be prepared in advance and reheated at serving time. Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by Nancy Berry <nlberry@prodigy.net> on Mar 25, 1998