This is a colorful dish, with white shoepeg corn, roasted red and dark green poblano peppers, plus black beans, marinated in a mole poblano-style sauce. The fiber- and antioxidant-rich black beans in this colorful and festive dish take a bit of cooking time, but are worth it.
Mole sauces are staples in Mexican cuisine. Their origin is uncertain. The word "mole" may come from the Spanish word "molino" (the "mill," where the nuts, peppers, and other spices in the pre-prepared mole were taken to be ground), and thus mean "ground." Or perhaps it comes from the Nahuatl word for sauce, "mille." as the author of " Mole Poblano " suggests.
Traditional mole sauce includes nuts and seeds (such as pumpkin seeds), perhaps peanuts, chocolate, and other spices including cumin and cilantro, ground with citrus juices or vinegar. Although sesame seeds are common in today's bottled mole sauces, pumpkin seeds or peanuts (both native to the Americas) are still used.
The recipe here uses sunflower seeds (again native to the Americas) plus kasha (buckwheat kernels). Vinegar and tomatillo as well as plenty of fresh lime juice are used as well to marinate the beans, which are first pre-cooked till the beans are almost tender and then cooked some more in the marinade. Both the vinegar and tomatillo were used in native cooking, while limes came from the Spanish. However, again according to the author of "Mole Poblano" (at Mexicoonline) , the sauce was invented post-conquest, not pre-, and so the limes, so much a part of Mexican cooking today, are not "unauthentic"
In traditional mole sauce, all the ingredients were first toasted and chopped, then taken to be ground. Since the "sauce" here is simply a marinade for the simmering beans, and is not bottled, and since modern ingredients can simplify things, a few "shortcuts" are possible. To begin with the kasha and sunflower seeds are already toasted and do not need to be toasted as would be done in traditional mole sauce making. Other ingredients include already toasted and ground cumin seeds, ground cocoa powder, and ground cayenne. The toasted sunflower seeds, along with the cilantro, garlic, and onion are simply minced with a knife, not ground. Note that whole granulation kasha works just fine for this – whatever its granulation, kasha will break down quickly in cooking anyway if no eggs have been added, and whole granulation kasha just seems a bit more flavorful.
The various peppers (jalapeno, serrano, poblano) are first roasted (ideally over a fire), after being dipped in the oil, vinegar, and citrus (but not the pepper) part of the mole sauce. They too are not ground but minced before being added to the mole, and the roasted poblano and sweet red pepper are actually added to the beans near the end of the cooking, rather than to the marinade, to add color and texture. The dish is vegetarian, but add a bit of chicken stock if you like (but it's absolutely not essential).
One tip: WHFoods, "Why are black beans so popular? Is there anything nutritionally unique about them?" points out that the color coat in black beans contain at least eight different flavanoids which have anti-oxidant properties. So do not over-soak the black beans and dissolve the color coating before even putting them on the stove. Six-to-ten hours of soaking is all that is needed. Also, when cooking, cover the beans when not checking or stirring them to avoid loss of nutrients to evaporation.
Black Beans and Corn, Mole, with Kasha: Ingredients:
- 1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight (six hours), rinsed, and drained
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 to 2-and-1/2 tbsps olive oil
- optionally, a teaspoon or two of chicken stock
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- juice of 3-and-1/2 limes, cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 3/4 to 1 tsp cumin
- 2 heaping tsps cocoa powder
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1 serrano pepper
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1/2 or 1 whole sweet red bell pepper
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic
- several slices of onion
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds, toasted, chopped
- 1/2 cup kasha, whole granulation
- 1 ear sweet white shoepeg corn
- 1 tomatillo
- 1 tomato
- lime slices for garnish/serving
Black Beans and Corn, Mole, with Kasha: Directions:
- After rinsing the black beans, cover with about 1 1/2 inches of water. Add the salt, plus 1/2 tbsp olive oil, chicken stock if you are using it, the juice of 1/2 lime, the teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, and a bit of cilantro.
- Bring the beans to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer, and start cooking.
- While the beans are cooking remove the stems and seeds from the jalapeno, serrano, poblano, and sweet red peppers, and cut into strips.
- In a large dutch oven or sauce pan (large enough to cook the beans, with a cover), add 1-and-1/2 tbsps olive oil, the juice of 1-and-1/2 limes, half the minced cilantro, the cumin, cocoa, and cayenne.
- Dip the pepper strips into this mixture and grill the pepper strips at least 20 minutes, till the skins start to bubble and wrinkle.
- Mince the garlic cloves and onion slices and saute these in the olive, lime, and spice mixture till transparent.
- Add the minced toasted sunflower seeds.
- Mince the roasted jalapeno and serrano peppers and add these. Continue roasting the poblano and red peppers on the other side at least 5 to 10 minutes longer till the skins are really wrinkled. (At this point the sauce may be pureed a bit in a bit of additional lime juice and then returned to the pot -- if you want a real mole -- but this is unnecessary -- the sauce is perhaps better without pureeing.)
- Add the 1/2 cup toasted kasha into the spice mixture and stir till hot and glistening (about 3 minutes), adding a bit more olive oil as needed.
- Scrape the corn kernels from the cob and add those along with the "milky substance" that accompanies them, and stir well.
- Scald the tomatillo for about a minute in boiling water, remove it, and slip off the skin, then add the tomatillo to the spice and garlic mixture, chopping it as you add it to the spice mixture, along with the juice of 1/2 lime. Cover and cook till the tomatillo is hot and simmering.
- Add the simmering beans when they are somewhat tender but not quite cooked (they need to simmer at least 30 to 45 minutes before being added), and a bit more water.
- Cover and cook till the beans are tender (an hour), adding more water if the beans get dry.
- Then add the juice of one more lime.
- Mince the fresh tomato and add that too, along with the remaining cilantro.
- Mince the poblano and red peppers, and add those, reserving a bit of red and poblano pepper for garnish.
- Stir well, adding a bit more water if needed.
- Cover and cook about 5 to 10 minutes till everything is hot through and through and the beans are really tender.
Serve, garnished with minced pepper and slices of fresh lime, along with toasted tortilla chips. This is a good recipe to serve with grilled chicken or shrimp.
Catherine E Whitehead - C. E. Whitehead holds degrees in education and linguistics. She likes languages, computers, and cooking.
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