Chicken Mole Enchiladas

Serves 4

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Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
1 tablespoon salt, plus more to taste
12 corn tortillas
1 cup mole
4 oz Cotija cheese
½ cup crema
¼ cup chopped cilantro, for garnish

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Recipe by Yewande Komolafe

Reprinted from Waffles + Mochi: The Cookbook. Available everywhere books are sold November 2021.

Sweet, semi-spicy, and perfectly salted, mole is a sauce that comes from Oaxaca, Mexico. Making mole from scratch involves a lot of different ingredients, including chiles, cinnamon, and chocolate—yes, chocolate!

This recipe calls for readymade sauce, whether it’s from a family recipe or your favorite jarred variety. As you assemble the ingredients, you can sazón or season with salt to taste—by adding just a pinch at a time.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

There are two types of salt: rock (yes, edible rocks exist!) and evaporative. Rock salt is mined from salt deposits in the earth. Evaporative salts are crystallized from seawater seas, lakes and springs.

Fill a small pot halfway with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat to a simmer and season the water with up to one tablespoon of salt (you can add more or less according to your taste). Add the chicken pieces and poach them until cooked through and tender, about 15 minutes.

Poaching is like boiling, but the bubbles in the simmering liquid are much slower. Watch out because the water is just as hot!

Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a bowl and when cool enough to handle, shred it using your fingers or a fork.

In a small skillet or nonstick pan, warm up the tortillas one at a time until softened. Stack the tortillas on a plate lined with a clean kitchen towel and cover them with a towel to keep them warm while you finish the recipe.

An adult contains 250 grams of salt, which would fill 3 or 4 salt shakers! We’re constantly losing salt through bodily functions and it’s essential to replace it. Salt also delivers nutrients to and from cells with nerve transmission and muscle movement. AND salt makes everything taste better, even sweet things!

Assemble the tortillas: Fill each tortilla with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the shredded chicken and 1 tablespoon of mole sauce. Roll the filled tortilla up to form a cylinder, then place it seam side down in the baking dish. Arrange the tortillas right next to each other, tightly in the dish.

Spoon ¼ cup of mole sauce over the top of the tortillas, and sprinkle them with half of the cotija cheese. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil.

Bake the enchiladas until heated through, about 25 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes in the oven. Serve enchiladas immediately, warm and topped with the remaining sauce, cotija, crema, cilantro, and just a pinch of salt at a time, to taste.