Fiesta Chicken! Like A Chocolaty Flavor To Your Main Dish? (ingredients, chicken breast)

[tijlover]

I made this dish last week, curious as hell, spotting the call for 2 squares of semi-sweet chocolate shaved into the dish. My initial spoonful taste was a total shock/repulsion to my taste buds! Since I've seen chocolate called for in some Mexican dishes before, I turned part of the dish over to my Mexican roommate, and kept some in the Refrigerator, as some dishes I've made before, they tasted better the 2nd or 3rd day.

I tried a little more the next day, and the next day, and it took that long for my taste buds to finally do a U-turn, and now, surprisingly, I'm going to make it again some day!

Anyone adventuresome enough to try it, here's the recipe from Reader's Digest/One Dish Meals Cookbook:

Ingredients:

2T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or diced
1 1/4 pounds chicken breasts, cut into pieces 1 1/2 inches wide
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 14 & a half oz. can tomatoes with the juice
1 10 oz. package of green beans
4 oz. can diced chili peppers
2 squares semi-sweet chocolate diced/shaved
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 T minced fresh cilantro or 1T minced parslety + 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1T lime juice
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
8 flour tortillas

Heat the oil in a 5 quart Dutch oven over moderate heat for 1 minute. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and salt and sauté until the chicken is no longer pink on the outside, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the chili powder, cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, green beans, chiles, chocolate, cinnamon and cilantro. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is no longer pink on the inside - 15 minutes for dark meat, 10 minutes for light meat.

Stir in the lime juice and, optionally, sprinkle the pumpkin seeds on top if desired.

Serve with tortillas.

I did not add the pumpkin seeds, have no idea how that would have altered the taste of the dish.

Anyone have any ideas of how to alter this dish any better? I was thinking pinto beans instead of the green beans, for one!

[Dirt Grinder]

I love mole sauce made with Mexican chocolate. Also, look-up Oaxacan moles - they have some very complex, flavorful moles in that region.

[Cliffie]

Pumpkin seeds add a nice nuttiness to anything you fix -- I advise you to go ahead and add them next time you fix this recipe, which sounds fabulous.

My question is, if you wanted to do a meatless version of this, what would people substitute? I'm a low-skills Mexican chef on my best day.

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by Cliffie

...My question is, if you wanted to do a meatless version of this, what would people substitute?...

It would need to be something that could hold-up to the complex flavors and cooking technique - maybe portobello mushrooms or baby bellas.

[Chimuelojones]

Originally Posted by Cliffie

Pumpkin seeds add a nice nuttiness to anything you fix -- I advise you to go ahead and add them next time you fix this recipe, which sounds fabulous.

My question is, if you wanted to do a meatless version of this, what would people substitute? I'm a low-skills Mexican chef on my best day.

That is a hard one because moles are a gravy like. the only way this might work is use the mole as a topping for spanish rice and pinto beans.

Chicken mole is usally accompanied with rice and beens sides. leave the chicken out and it would still be good.

Or Mole enchiladas. Make the mole like a gravy, dip corn tortillas in the mole to coat, fill the tortilla with shreaded jack or Oaxaca cheese. Roll and top with more cheese. Nuke in microwave till cheese is melty.
serve with rice and beans.

[sandrew834]

Delicious and very easy to make. The tortillas hold up well and you get a good mix of textures and flavors in each bite. We only used 3/4 tsp of chili powder and mild picante sauce, and that made it lively enough to let us know we were alive, but not enough to overwhelm our taste buds.

[Lovely95]

I absolutely love mole dishes. The spicier the better!