Pipián Recipes

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine chicken, water, celery, bay leaf, onion, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is cooked through and tender. Strain, reserving the broth. Skin and bone the chicken; set the meat aside.
• Toast the sesame seeds lightly in a skillet, stirring constantly, until they are fragrant. In a food processor or blender, puree the sesame seeds and almonds with1 cup of the reserved chicken broth.
• Heat oil in a skillet over medium low heat. Add the blended sesame seed and almond mixture, and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in 1 to 2 cups reserved chicken broth and chicken bouillon. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped peppers, olives, capers, and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes, and serve hot.

Steps:

• Heat a heavy Dutch oven or saucepan over medium heat and add the pumpkin seeds. Wait until you hear one pop, then stir constantly until they have puffed and popped, and smell toasty. They should not get any darker than golden or they will taste bitter. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.
• Place the cooled pumpkin seeds in a blender and add the tomatillos, chiles, lettuce, onion, garlic, cilantro, and 1/2 cup of the chicken stock. Cover the blender and blend the mixture until smooth, stopping the blender to stir if necessary.
• Heat the oil in the Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Drizzle in a bit of the pumpkin seed mixture and if it sizzles, add the rest. Cook, stirring, until the mixture darkens and thickens, 8 to 10 minutes. It will splutter, so be careful. Hold the lid of the pot above the pot to shield you and your stove from the splutters. Add the remaining chicken stock, bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring often, until the sauce is thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt. For a silkier sauce, blend again in batches.

Steps:

• For the pollo: In a pot, add the chicken breast, garlic, tomato, onion and salt. Add water to cover the chicken breast. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and strain the broth. Set aside the broth for the sauce. Shred the chicken.
• For the pipian sauce: In a medium saute pan, toast the pumpkin seeds on medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning, about 5 minutes. Transfer the seeds to the chicken broth and let soak for about 15 minutes. Repeat the toasting with the purple corn kernels, then transfer to the broth. Repeat the toasting with the chiles, breaking them apart and stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chiles to just enough hot water to cover and let soak for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the chiles from the water and discard the water. Transfer the chiles to a blender with some chicken broth and blend, then remove and blend the pumpkin seeds finely. (You want it to look like a thin purée.) Set aside.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat. Add the oil. Once the oil is hot, slowly add the two blends together. Cook, stirring constantly, then add the remaining chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat. Simmer, stirring constantly, until the sauce reduces to a thick consistency, about 10 minutes. Add salt to your liking.
• Serve the sauce on top of the chicken!

Steps:

• Make the sauce: Remove the stems from the chiles de árbol, and gently roll the chiles between your fingers to remove the seeds. Discard seeds. Set a bare skillet over high heat for 5 minutes, then add the chiles. Toast until they are darkened and fragrant, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Place them in a bowl, cover with 2 cups boiling or very hot water, and set aside to soak.
• Return the skillet to high heat. Add the tomatoes, onion and garlic, and cook, turning occasionally, until charred, approximately 10 minutes. Put the vegetables on a plate, and set aside to cool, then slip the skins off the cloves of garlic.
• Return the skillet to medium-low heat. Place the pumpkin seeds, peanuts and sesame seeds in the skillet, and cook, stirring and shaking the pan continuously, until they are toasted and fragrant, approximately 2 to 4 minutes. Put the seeds and nuts in a bowl, and stir in the cinnamon, cloves and allspice.
• Put the chiles and soaking liquid in a blender with the tomatoes, onion, garlic, the nut-seed mixture and the chipotle. Purée until smooth.
• Add the oil, lard or chicken fat to a large, heavy-bottomed pot, and heat over medium heat until it is nearly smoking. Add the purée. It will sputter a lot. Lower the heat, and stir, cooking the mixture down to a thick paste. It will continue to sputter and pop. Add the broth to the paste, and stir, then season with the salt, sugar and vinegar, and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until it resembles a thick, creamy soup. Lower heat to a bare simmer.
• Make the pork chops: Season the pork chops aggressively with salt and pepper, and dust them with the flour. Add the oil to the skillet, and heat over medium-high heat until nearly smoking. Add the chops, and let them cook undisturbed, in batches if necessary, until crisp and well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Set them aside to rest for 5 minutes or so. Serve a chop per person on a generous amount of sauce, with tortillas to mop it up. Extra sauce can be used to braise chicken, lamb or more pork, or as a topping for enchiladas.

Steps:

• Make the mole:
• In a sauté pan over moderate heat, toast the pumpkins seeds, stirring frequently and being careful not to burn them. Transfer to a small bowl to cool. Once cool, reserve about 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds for garnish, then transfer the remaining seeds to a blender and add enough vegetable stock to cover by 1 inch. Blend on high until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and clean the blender.
• Place the tomatillos, epazote, hoja santa, romaine, cilantro, chiles, onion, garlic, and cumin in a blender, in that order, and blend well. If more liquid is needed, add water or broth, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• In a deep skillet over high heat, heat the oil until shimmering then carefully add the tomatillo mixture and fry, stirring constantly and adding broth or water as needed to achieve a sauce-like consistency, for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Remove the skillet from the heat and add the pumpkin seed mixture. Mix well, then season to taste with salt.
• To serve:
• Divide the rice, chayote or zucchini, green beans, and poached chicken among 4 plates. Coat the chicken with the mole, garnish with the reserved pumpkin seeds, and serve.
• DO AHEAD: Leftover mole can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days in the refrigerator. Or, if frozen properly in an airtight container and wrapped in plastic and then aluminum wrap, it can be held for up to 4 months in the freezer.

Steps:

• If the pumpkin seeds you have are already toasted, proceed to step 2. Otherwise, heat 3 tablespoons of the lard in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. A minute later, add the pumpkin seeds and cook, shaking and stirring the pan constantly for a minute or two, until the seeds start to puff. (Take care not to overcook the seeds, which will make the sauce bitter; and be prepared for flying seeds popping out of the pan.) Remove the toasted seeds with a slotted spoon and cool. (Discard any blackened seeds.) Meanwhile, warm the stock and soak the chiles in it. When they have softened, after 10 to 15 minutes, remove their stems and seeds; reserve the soaking liquid.
• Put the seeds in a food processor and process until pasty, stopping the machine and scraping down the sides if necessary. Add the garlic, chiles, and as much of the soaking liquid as you need to process until quite smooth.
• Turn the heat under the pan back to medium and add the remaining lard or oil. Reheat the sauce with enough liquid to thin to a pleasing consistency, stirring occasionally, until it just boils and thickens slightly. Remove from the heat. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed, then stir in the lime juice; serve hot or at room temperature. (This keeps well, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days; bring back to room temperature or reheat before serving and always add the lime juice at the last minute.)
• In step 2, add 2 tomatoes (preferably peeled and seeded) and 2 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled, to the mix; you will need less of the reserved liquid.
• Omit the lard and toast the pumpkin seeds as you would sesame seeds (page 596). Omit the ancho chiles and puree the toasted seeds with chile powder to taste (about 1 tablespoon), at least 1/4 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade (page 160), or water, and salt and pepper to taste. Reheat and add the lime juice.