I admit to a little pre-occupation with mole. With it's seemingly endless list of ingredients and a myriad of flavours. It has me hooked.
No one actually knows the origins of this dark and delicious paste, but two ideas are offered. The first, curteousy of Mexonline, says that 16th Century nuns from the Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla de los Angeles, upon learning that the Archbishop was coming for a visit, went into a panic because they had nothing to serve him. The nuns started praying desperately and an angel came to inspire them. They began chopping and grinding and roasting, mixing different types of chiles together with spices, day-old bread, nuts, a little chocolate and approximately 20 other ingredients.. The other legend states that mole came from pre-hispanic times and that Aztec king, Moctezuma, thinking the conquistadors were gods, served mole to Cortez at a banquet to receive them. This story probably gained credibility because the word mole comes from the Nahuatl word “milli” which means sauce or “concoction”. Another connection could be that chocolate was widely used in pre-columbian mexico, so people jumped to that conclusion.
I was excited to ride el Metro to visit this little vegetarian restaurant. Gold Taco It also has a well stocked vegetarian (well stocked by current Mexico standards) health food store attached.
A guy was strumming Mexican tunes on his guitar when I arrived and the place was packed. I could hardly contain my excitement. This was to be my first taste of Mole actually in MEXICO!! Though the waitress didn't speak English I managed to let her know I was sin (without) gluten AND Vegana. I ran through the list of ingredients a vegan doesn't eat just incase. I elected for the enchiladas with mole sauce. Stuffed with a soy 'chorizo'. A salad (it had sprouted alfa alfa!) and a taco. The oh-so-thick, subtly spicy, smouldering mole sauce was lovely. Not overly sweet and the combination with the vegan chorizo and the sweet maize tortillas would have surely made BOTH the Pueblan Nun and Moctezuma proud!
I was smiling and waving like a fool to the staff when I left.
By the way, mole can be made gluten free, without the stale bread (I was assured Gold Taco's was)…..I'll write you about my MOLE cooking experience in another post and let you have the recipe. Stay tuned! x
Address: Av. Eugenia 1562, 03020 Distrito Federal, Federal District, Mexico
Phone:+52 55 4632 8174
