Once Upon a Time

Hello All,

Once upon a time I lived in Brooklyn, NY and had a favorite Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn Heights that I went to rather often.  One of the meals I had there was a chicken poblano mole.  Which is a spicy chocolate chicken dish.  What?!  Chicken and chocolate?!  Yes, chicken and chocolate.  It was two things I really love, spicy and it had chocolate.  I've been wanting to make that dish or one similar to it for quite some time and recently found an easy recipe for Chicken Mole that I'd like to share with you here:

2 1/2 lbs chicken breast tenders
1 large onion chopped/diced small
1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped ( I omitted this)
2 cloves garlic, minced ( or 1 teaspoon already minced garlic)
2 tablespoons chili powder (this does not give a lot of heat, so if you want really spicy, I suggest half chili powder and half cayenne pepper)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (yes this is the cloves traditionally put in ham, and also good for a toothache, I used much less than the recipe calls for because I don't really care for the taste, however it does give the dish a nice flavor)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes ( I of course used fresh tomatoes, and diced them myself)
2 tablespoons unsweetened natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened coco powder (Nestle's is good, use the regular not the dark chocolate)
2 scallions chopped ( I omitted this just because I didn't have any, use your own judgment on this ingredient)

The recipe calls for you to sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, I don't cook with salt, preferring to add it to my plate as in salt to my taste.   Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with olive oil ( I don't use cooking sprays, but you can if you like) over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook for about 8 minutes, turning once, or until browned on both sides.  Remove from the pan to a bowl.  Next, add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the pan and saute' for about 3 minutes until the onion is translucent.  Stir in the chili powder (or the half chili powder, half cayenne pepper I suggested above) and the ground cloves and cook for 1 minute.  The aroma is wonderful!   Put the chicken back in the pan along with any juices and add the fresh tomatoes (if you used canned then add the juice from those), the peanut butter and cocoa powder and bring to a boil.   Cover and let simmer on a low flame for about 25 minutes, stirring every so often. 

I served this dish with my own special yellow rice and my version of re-fried kidney beans (which are not re-fried at all)  and I have to say that this reminded me of the restaurant in Brooklyn Heights that I used to go to, once upon a time!

I hope you'll make this dish and let me know how you liked it.  I didn't include my recipe for yellow rice or re-fried beans so, hit me up and I'll forward to you upon request!

Much love,

J