Dateline: June 9, 2020 Holy Mole!

I had some turkey tenderloins in the freezer and decided to try to do something with them that was 

1) different than usual

2) tasty

3) quick and easy

I began my search with NYTCooking app and found inspiration with a turkey mole recipe. 

Ingredients

5 dried guajillo peppers

5 dried pasilla peppers

1 dried ancho pepper

1 large onion, quartered, but not peeled

4 cloves of garlic, not peeled

water

1.5 lbs turkey tenderloin, boneless breast, boneless thigh, whatever you have, cut up into chunks

salt and pepper

1 t ground coriander seed

1 t ground cumin seed

1/2 t Mexican oregano

1 c chicken stock

1 T unsweetened cocoa powder

2 t turbinado sugar

Method

1.  Stem and seed all the dried peppers.  Wear gloves if your hands are raw from sanitizer!

2.  In a cast iron skillet, toast the peppers on both sides over medium heat, but do not burn!

3.  Place in a bowl and cover with water and allow to soak until pliable

4.  In same cast iron skillet, put in onion quarters cut side down, and garlic cloves.  Toast until slightly blackened on all sides.

5.  Remove to a blender and pull the peppers from the water and add them to the blender.  Add about 1/2 cup soaking liquid to help get the blender going.  Reserve the remainder of the soaking liquid in case the dish needs thinning later on.  Blend until very smooth.

6.  Strain the contents of the blender through a fine sieve into the bowl where you soaked the peppers.  Make sure to scrape down the outside of the sieve and to try to extract as much pulp from what is inside the sieve.  Hold aside until step 8.

7.  Salt and pepper all sides of the turkey chunks.  Heat the same cast iron skill over medium heat, add neutral oil, and gently sear the turkey chunks until a light golden brown.  They will not be cooked all the way through.  Remove them to a clean plate.

8.  In the cast iron skillet cook the strained sauce.  As it bubbles up, add the chicken stock, coriander, cumin, oregano, cocoa and sugar.  Stir to combine all ingredients well.  Taste, adjust salt and pepper or sugar, etc.  Reduce slightly and add in the turkey chunks and any accumulated juices from the plate.  Rotate and spoon sauce all over the pieces.  Cover pan with foil or lid and reduce heat to a simmer.

9.  Check on the skillet every once in a while to be sure that nothing is sticking to the bottom.

10.  Serve with rice, quinoa, or other side dish of your choice and a salad.

From the tasting that I have been doing of the sauce, it has a bit of a bitter edge, (dried peppers) and the cocoa and sugar really balance that out.  Additional salt and pepper was needed as there was zero in the sauce until then.  I am looking forward to this, sorry I don't have tortillas as a go with.

This was outstanding.  The mole was wonderful, so wonderful, I may make a huge batch to give away and freeze!