Pork Mole

Mole is a sauce that I had read about before, the main reason that I was interested in it, is that it contains chocolate. The traditional mole sauce, made in many places in Mexico, each region with their own list of 27, or sometimes 29, ingredients, including spices, tomatoes, onions, raisins, almonds, and especially chilies. And a little bit of chocolate, an underlying sweetness to balance the heat. The traditional meat that is used in this dish is the Mexican turkey, though more often people use chicken. This recipe is not really traditional, it uses pork, as well it uses cocoa powder instead of chocolate, and there are no chilies, well, chili sauce. It's easy to make, and tastes pretty good, though I think it looks kind of weird, not the normal thing I would put on noodles, a brown sauce.

Pork Mole
2 Tbsp sunflower oil, divided
1 lb lean pork, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp Chili with Garlic Sauce
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup chicken broth or water
1/4 cup hazelnuts or sliced almonds
4 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
pinch of each: cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg
sea salt to taste

Heat 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil in large skillet. Sauté the pork over medium heat, turning often until browned on all sides. Remove to a plate and set aside. Using the same skillet heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Sauté the onion for 5 minutes. Place the onion in a blender with tomatoes, chili sauce, raisins, broth, almonds, cocoa powder, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Pulverize until almost smooth. Return pork to the skillet and top with blended sauce. Simmer over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve over your favourite noodles.