Slow Cooking Thursday - Chicken Mole with Quinoa

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 tsp oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
30g dark chocolate, very finely chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 chicken thighs
3/4 cup sultanas

Fry the first 4 ingredients in a pan over medium heat until onion is golden and soft. Put into a food processor with everything else except the chicken thighs and sultanas. Blend to a smooth paste. If your paste is more like a sauce, add 2 corn tortillas torn up. I didn't have any of those, which is why I didn't write them in. But I also didn't drain my tomatoes. So I added three slices of wholemeal bread to the blender. It helped a little. Make sure that your chocolate is in very small pieces or that your food processor can handle hard chunks. Mine didn't like it much, and combined with the excessive amounts of liquid, had a hissy fit and spat all over my bench. it was only a little bit, but considering the colour, it still didn't look pretty.
Place in the slow cooker with the chicken pieces and stir to coat. Add your sultanas. Cook on low for 6-8 hours - NO STIRRING!

I wasn't terribly impressed with this. I've never eaten or cooked a mole before, but pictures on the internet led me to expect something more dark brown, and less... well, technicolour yawn pink is the only way to describe it. But it smelled good, and tasted nice raw. I took all the chilies out of the recipe I used, because we really don't eat anything even mildly spicy. I was going to buy some chili flakes and add in a 1/2 tsp of that, but I forgot to buy them. If the chicken turns out to need a touch of spice I'll add it in next time. Next time when I make the sauce the night before. And perhaps melt the chocolate. And drain the tomatoes. Perhaps I'll use my hand blender and a jug to process the sauce next time... it's a lot less dishes than my food processor. Hey, maybe I'll make a double batch of sauce and store some - this would be super easy if the sauce was in a jar in the fridge. Then all I'd have to do was throw chicken and sauce and sultanas in the slow cooker - now that's my idea of slow cooking!

Mmmm, look how fluffy this is!

Quinoa is really easy to cook, and this made a nice side to the mole, just something a little special.

Rinse 1 cup quinoa in a small strainer or sieve. Place in a medium saucepan with 1 cup water and 1 cup stock (of course you can use 2 cups water, but if you have stock on hand its worth using it for the extra flavour). Bring a boil, add 1-2 cups of frozen corn kernels, bring back to the boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Quinoa is cooked when the germ ring is visible - ie, the grains look like little condoms. Yeah, I know. I'm sure you didn't need that image in your head when you are about to eat this. But I read that online somewhere years ago, and it's stuck with me. I think of it every time I eat quinoa... and now you will too. Aren't I generous? The kids loved this. Mostly just saying the word, but Master Four ate all of his, pinched some of Miss Two's and mooched some off DP. Miss Two ate most of hers, but I think I served up far too much for everyone - even DP couldn't eat all of his. So this much quinoa would probably feed 8 people as a side dish.

I liked the cooked Mole too. It did need the chili, it came out sort of bland, but still nice without it. A recipe to tweak, but definitely try again. At least the colour changed to a darker, more brownish pink.