Recipe

Holy Mole Chicken Chili

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Photo by fiveandspice

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Chili
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fiveandspice's Notes: So, this is not quite a traditional chili. It may even be a blasphemous chili. I'm never quite sure what the rules of chili are - I'm Norwegian, you can't really expect me to - I just know...
So, this is not quite a traditional chili. It may even be a blasphemous chili. I'm never quite sure what the rules of chili are - I'm Norwegian, you can't really expect me to - I just know that I like it. Anyway, this chili came about because of a dinner at my in-laws right before Christmas. We had an amazing spectrum of dietary issues present: gluten free and no red meat, gluten free and no dairy, gluten free and vegetarian, no shellfish, no nuts... So, our host had decided on blackbean and butternut squash chili. Except, oops, I can't eat beans, sorry. So, she quickly changed to chicken chili with no beans. But that violated the need for a vegetarian option. In the end, we wound up with two separate pots of chili, one just chicken, and one blackbean and butternut squash. Now, I should have simply been happy to have something to eat, and I'm certainly not complaining, but I was a little bit sad I didn't get to have any squash in my chili. So, I fished some squash out of the bean chili, washed it off and added it to mine. The combination was delicious, and I vowed that the next time I made chili, it would be a chicken and butternut squash chili, so here it is. There's a decent amount of unsweetened chocolate in here, which gives it a mole-like richness. It's not super spicy because I was serving it to some other Norwegians (read: sensitive palates) but you can adjust the spice to your taste.

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Serves about 6

3 tablespoons olive oil Ask a question about this ingredient

1 large yellow onion, diced Ask a question about this ingredient

5 cloves of garlic, minced Ask a question about this ingredient

1 large bell pepper (any color that floats your boat), finely chopped Ask a question about this ingredient

1 poblano pepper, finely chopped Ask a question about this ingredient

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped Ask a question about this ingredient

4 tablespoons chili powder Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon ground cumin Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon dried oregano Ask a question about this ingredient

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes Ask a question about this ingredient

1 canned chipotle pepper (in adobo sauce), chopped, plus more to increase spiciness to taste Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from the canned chipotles) Ask a question about this ingredient

28 ounces can diced tomatoes, with their juices Ask a question about this ingredient

8 ounces malty beer (drink the rest as you cook) Ask a question about this ingredient

1 cinnamon stick Ask a question about this ingredient

3 3-inch long pieces of orange peel, peeled off with a vegetable peeler (so, no pith on them) Ask a question about this ingredient

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes Ask a question about this ingredient

1 ounce finely chopped unsweetened chocolate, plus more to taste Ask a question about this ingredient

salt and pepper Ask a question about this ingredient

1 ripe avocado Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 cup sour cream Ask a question about this ingredient

2-3 limes Ask a question about this ingredient

chopped cilantro, for serving Ask a question about this ingredient

fried corn tortilla strips (or corn chips) for serving Ask a question about this ingredient

In a rather large pot, heat 2 Tbs. olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Stir in the onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, bell pepper, poblano pepper, and jalapeno pepper, and cook, stirring, until softened, another 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook for about 1 minute to toast the spices.
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Add the butternut squash and stir to coat it with the spices. Stir in the chipotle, adobo, canned tomato, beer, cinnamon stick and orange peel. Add a couple tsp. of salt. Stir and cover. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook, covered, until the butternut squash is tender, mine took around 30 minutes.
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In the meantime, heat the remaining olive oil in a large frying pan set over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken pieces in batches and set aside.
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When the squash is tender, stir in the chicken and simmer just long enough to cook the chicken through, several minutes. Stir in the unsweetened chocolate plus more salt and pepper to taste. You can fish the cinnamon stick and orange peel out if you want, or just leave them for people to discover in their bowl as a fun surprise.
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Blend together the avocado with the sour cream, a pinch of salt, and the juice of half a lime (you can just mash it well with a fork if you don't want to bother with a blender/food processor). Cut the remaining limes and lime half into wedges. Serve the chili warm with the avocado cream to dollop on top (plus additional sour cream, if you'd like), lime wedges for squeezing over, and cilantro and tortilla strips for sprinkling. This is definitely a one pot meal - who needs to even bother with a salad?
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10 Comments on Holy Mole Chicken Chili

hardlikearmour added 3 months ago

This sounds really delicious! I'm guessing I could eat a whole bowl of just the avocado cream.

fiveandspice added 3 months ago

Thanks HLA! And, if you're anything like me, then yes, you most definitely could!

LE BEC FIN added 3 months ago

5, i have looked through so many of these recipes , but THIS one looks well thought out and tempting. And I very much appreciate your smart way of dealing with the chicken. I'm going to try it so thank you! I'm new to 52, this my second contest. After reading your sr crm topping info, you might also like the Lime Crema i have in one of my recipes.

fiveandspice added 3 months ago

Thank you very much Le Bec Fin. I'm really glad you think so! And, I will definitely take a look at your lime crema recipe - that sounds like something I would LOVE!