Oaxacan green mole

Mole poblano (Puebla-style)

Because these dishes look so extremely different, it is hard to believe that they actually both fall under the same name, “mole”.  The dish featured on the left((Photo Courtesy of http://thedailygreen.com/healthyeating/eat-safe/mole-sauce-recipe-44021202.)), which includes chocolate and sesame seeds, is the image that comes to mind when most people think of mole. However, mole is actually a much more general term, one that refers to a wide variety of different sauces from all over Mexico. The dish on the right((Photo courtesy of http://from1scratch.blogspot.com/2009/11/green-mole-stew.html.)), featuring tomatillos, avocado leaves, and parsley among its main ingredients, is no less a “mole” than any other. Each different mole is shaped by the ingredients commonly associated with the region from which it hails. Consequently, the different moles are often a source of pride for their respective regions.

Mole poblano, from the region of Puebla, has a particularly rich history((Mole Poblano: Mexico’s National Food Dish. Retrieved from http://www.mexonline.com/molepoblano.htm.)). While there have been legends that attempt to trace its origins back to prehispanic times, most historians believe that it is definitely of posthispanic origin. The most common legend of its creation involves 16th century nuns, who quickly threw together whatever ingredients they had on hand upon learning that the Archbishop was coming to visit. Indeed, the numerous and varied ingredients of mole do suggest a dish in which various ingredients from different cultures have been “thrown together”, even as the dish obviously requires great care in combining the different elements. Besides native ingredients like chiles, chocolate, and plantains, or even Spanish imports such as garlic, the dish includes spices from all over the globe, such as cinnamon (China) and cumin (India). Friedlander((Friedlander, J. (1975). Being Indian in Hueyapan. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.)) notes that, “Spanish colonial tastes turned a basic stew into an exotic sauce of Asian spices, as the culinary curiosity of the Spanish began to make the dish look more like an East Indian curry than an Aztec dish.”

Click here to see a recipe for mole poblano, with video.