Lots of Tex-Mex restaurants use bottled mole pastes from Mexico such as Doña Maria brand. Tricks of the trade include reconstituting the paste with chicken broth instead of water and boosting the flavor with peanut butter. Here's a simple homemade mole that tastes even better than the bottled paste.

　　

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

　　2 garlic cloves, minced

　　1/4 onion, sliced

　　2 tomatoes, peeled and quartered

　　1 ancho chile, stemmed and seeded

　　1 guajillo or pasilla chile, stemmed and seeded

　　1 ounce semisweet chocolate

　　1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds

　　1 teaspoon peanut butter

　　1/2 teaspoon sugar

　　2 saltine crackers

　　1 cup chicken broth

　　Salt

　　

Step 1

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chiles, chocolate, sesame seeds, peanut butter, sugar, crackers, and chicken broth. Simmer for 5 minutes.

　　

Step 2

Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Salt to taste. If the mole has any grittiness, return it to the blender and puree again. Serve warm or cover and store in refrigerator for up to a week.

　　From The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos © 2004 by Robb Walsh. Reprinted with permission from Ten Speed Press.Buy the full book from Amazon.