I’ve talked about the wide variety moles in Mexico in the past and I have even shared with you an easy Mole de Olla recipe. So I thought that we were due for another mole recipe. One that is very healthy and very special in my family: Mole de Zanahoria or Carrot Mole.
This recipe comes from my mom, my biggest influence in food as you already know, but I’ve made a couple of changes to make this recipe completely vegan. It’s going to be sweet because of the carrots so it won’t need chocolate but it will include a lot of spices and ingredients of traditional mole. Don’t worry, it will be super easy to make.
My mom would serve this Mole de Zanahoria with chicken, as it is traditional in most moles but I will be serving it with cauliflower steaks instead. A completely vegan mole but very hearty.
Making Mole:
- I start to prepare for this mole by peeling the carrots and bringing them to a boil in a little bit of water, just enough to make them tender. This takes approximately 5 minutes, I don’t want overcooked carrots, because I don’t want to kill all their nutrients.
- Prepare the tomatoes by boiling them for about 1 minute, just enough to remove the skin. To make it easy to peel them, cut a tiny X with your knife before adding them to the water.
- In a skillet, I slightly toast the sesame seeds, almonds, cloves, and allspice.
- Once the carrots are boiled, you have removed the skin off the tomatoes, and the spices are toasted you can puree all of the ingredients. In a food processor or blender add the boiled carrots, skinned tomatoes, sesame seeds, almonds, cloves, allspice, chipotle peppers, ¼ of an onion, 1 large garlic, thyme, marjoram, and salt (about 2 teaspoons) and liquify. Blend until the mole is completely pureed.
- In a deep skillet, add about 2 tbsp. of corn oil, then add the mole. Turn the heat to a low/medium and stir, stir, stir until everything is combined well. Approximately 5 minutes.
- Now, I can now add about ½ cup of vegetable broth, turn the heat to it’s lowest setting, and let it reduce for about 20 minutes. Stir frequently!
Ingredients for mole Yields approximately 4 servings:
Semi-sweet chocolate bar (to sprinkle on top)
1 Cauliflower - salt, pepper, oregano, and olive oil to taste
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 chipotle peppers in adobo
2 tablespoons of corn oil
1/2 cup vegetable broth
salt to taste
½ lb. carrots
3 tomatoes
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
¼ cup of almonds
2 cloves
2 allspice
1 tsp dried marjoram
Making Cauliflower:
- To make the cauliflower steaks it will be so easy. I cut the cauliflower into 1 inch thick rounds.
- Place the cauliflower steak in a baking sheet with parchment paper, add salt, pepper, and olive on both sides. Make sure to cover it well. Lastly, I’m sprinkling a little bit of oregano.
- In a preheated oven of 400 degrees Fahrenheit, place the cauliflower steaks and cook for about 20 minutes until fully cooked but crisp.
So there you have it, a mole that is easy to make, yet super healthy, without sacrificing any flavor. To serve it, I just place the cauliflower steak, added the mole on top, and I like to top it with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and shavings of semi sweet chocolate. Perfect!
A mole that is sweet, spicy, savory, healthy, and traditionally Mexican.
