Chicken Enchiladas with Nutella Mole Poblano

It's World Nutella Day!

I wracked my brain trying to come up with something clever for this year's recipe. Did I want to do something sweet? Perhaps something savory? How best to showcase my love for the Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread?

At a loss, I resigned myself to sitting this year out. So I busied myself making my basic lemon, salt and pepper baked chicken. Then as I stripped the leftover chicken from the bones, I figured I'd save some of the shredded chicken for enchiladas. Instead of ordinary enchiladas, how 'bout I try my hand at making Mexican mole?

*Lightbulb.*

And instead of mole with Mexican chocolate, I could use Nutella!

I decided to make mole poblano since that's the version I've eaten the most. According to Wikipedia, mole poblano comes from the Mexican state of Puebla and is made with chili peppers, ground nuts, spices, chocolate, salt, onions, and garlic. A little Googling turned up David Lebovitz's Chocolate Mole Recipe, which was comprised of ingredients I already had in my pantry. A little tweaking here and there, and surprisingly, except for being a little sweeter than some moles I've eaten, the smooth hazelnut-chocolate taste of Nutella blended in quite nicely with the almonds, chili peppers, and spices in the sauce.




Chicken Enchiladas with Nutella Mole Poblano
Adapted from David Lebovitz's Chocolate Mole Recipe and MuyBueno.net mole mancha manteles.

For 4 large flour or 8 small corn tortillas, you'll need:
4 large flour tortillas or 8 small corn tortillas
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

Optional:
1/2 cup Mexican four-cheese blend
About 2 tblsp sour cream, thinned out with 1 to 2 tsp milk
Sesame seeds, for garnishing

For mole sauce:
3 ancho or chipotle chilies, stems removed, de-seeded, soaked in warm water
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup almonds, or hazelnuts if you have any
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2-oz or 1/2 bar unsweetened dark chocolate
1 cup chicken broth

Typically, you'd poach the chicken and use the broth for the mole, but I prefer the taste of baked chicken. So make my baked chicken recipe, then shred any leftover meat from the bones. Boil the bones to make broth. Set aside the chicken and broth.

Remove stems and seeds from dried chili peppers. Soak in warm water. Set aside.

In a saucepan, saute 1/2 chopped onion and 3 cloves chopped garlic until just softened. Also add 1/4 cup almonds, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp cloves, and 1/4 tsp cumin.

Drain and squeeze out water from the chili peppers. Add the chili peppers, the mixture from the sauce pan, and 1/2 of the can of tomato sauce in the food processor. Add more of the tomato sauce if needed to blend the mixture more smoothly. Add the mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the tomato sauce. Add 1/4 cup Nutella and 1/2-oz or half a bar of unsweetened dark chocolate. On medium-low heat, add about 1/2 cup chicken broth and stir until the mixture is well-blended. You might need another 1/2 cup of chicken broth. You don't want the mole to be too thick, nor to thin. Some recipes suggest using bread or crackers to thicken the sauce, but I didn't feel the need for it.

Taste. Adjust if necessary. Add more Nutella or dark chocolate if you want a dark, dark mole. When the sauce is ready, turn the heat down to the lowest setting.

In another pan, add a few drizzles of oil and lightly pan-fry the tortillas just so they become pliable. I used very little oil. Just enough so the tortillas don't stick, but not enough to make them oily. Then roll up the enchiladas with the shredded chicken and some Mexican four-cheese blend if you wish. I lightly pan-fried them again so the cheese could melt.

Lay the enchiladas on a plate and liberally pour the mole poblano on top. Thin out about 2 tblsp of sour cream with 1 to 2 tsp milk. Drizzle the cream on top. Sprinkle sesame seeds over everything.



Serve with Mexican rice.

Enjoy!

I'm submitting this recipe to World Nutella Day hosted by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso. Check back with them on February 9 for a round-up of Nutella recipes from around the world.


Other Nutella recipes:
Chocolate Mochi with Nutella Filling
Egg Rolls Stuffed with Bananas and Mangoes with Nutella Dipping Sauce
Bananas, Nutella, and Peanut Butter Sandwiches

*****
1 year ago today, German Oven Pancakes.
2 years ago today, Pupusas with Beans and Cheese.