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Would you recommend a way to make mole sauce without chocolate? If so how? I'm diabetic and don't want a lot of sugar in my sauce.

Joe
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Abraham Ray
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    There are many *moles* (Oaxaca is known as the Land of the Seven Moles, although there are plenty of variants on each), so it's not clear exactly what you're looking for. Would any Mexican sauce which doesn't include chocolate do? Do you want a variant on a specific *mole* (e.g. *mole negro* without chocolate)? Or something in between those two extremes? – Peter Taylor Jul 08 '17 at 10:14
  • Somewhere in between the extremes @PeterTaylor – Abraham Ray Jul 08 '17 at 14:46
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    Mole is usually made with dark chocolate with no added sugar. Normally 95% cacao or so, you should be fine. – h3h325 Jul 09 '17 at 17:13

2 Answers2

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Mole is often made with unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder. No added sugars are involved. (There is a tiny amount of natural sugar in the cacao, about 1%.)

Chocolate is not absolutely necessary in mole. Mole verde generally does not contain chocolate; some recipes for mole rojo also leave it out. You could simply leave out the cocoa from a mole recipe, if you wish.

But you don't have to simply because you're diabetic. Seek a recipe which uses cocoa rather than Mexican chocolate; the Googles are full of such recipes.

Joshua Engel
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    Is your first sentence actually accurate? Mexican chocolate does have sugar in it and many of the recipes I've found simply call for "Mexican chocolate"... the brand I see the most, Ibarra, according to a listing on Amazon has more sugar in it than chocolate: https://www.amazon.com/Ibarra-Mexican-Chocolate-19-oz/dp/B003T0ICCG "*Sugar, cacao nibs, lecithin (emulsifier) and cinnamon flavor.*" – Catija Jul 07 '17 at 22:51
  • That's why I need to know how to make the sauce without chocolate! – Abraham Ray Jul 07 '17 at 23:13
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    @Catija - Maybe "often" instead if "usually", but I've seen plenty of mole recipes without sugar (even if there are also plenty with sugar) - looking for cocoa powder recipes instead of bar chocolate recipes as he suggests seems like a good place to start. – Megha Jul 08 '17 at 00:12
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    @Megha I'm not disputing that using powder is a solution... it's in my answer as well. What I'm disputing is the "usually". – Catija Jul 08 '17 at 00:32
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    @Catija - I was mostly agreeing with your comment, that is why I said that "often" would be a better word to use in that sentance - because it can be often with, and also often without. I mentioned I was more familiar with powder recipes because your comment sounded like you had not often seen them. It's not really important in the end, both kinds of recipes are available and seem interesting. – Megha Jul 08 '17 at 01:15
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    I concur that it should be "often" rather than "usually". It was the case with all the recipes I use, but a google search reveals lots of recipes that use Mexican-style sweetened chocolate. Thank you for noticing that; I will edit. – Joshua Engel Jul 10 '17 at 17:26
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I think you have three options.

  1. Mole doesn't require chocolate. Find a recipe that doesn't have any. This recipe on Epicurious doesn't have chocolate, though they address that by noting that their inclusion of ancho chiles gives the chocolate flavor (I haven't tried any of these recipes, so don't take this as endorsement of them).

Ancho chiles — large, wrinkled, reddish-brown dried poblanos — add body and a chocolately flavor to many moles. They range from mild to hot. Guajillos are large, dark-red, dried chiles with a nutty flavor and not too much heat. Both varieties are available at www.kitchenmarket.com/. Four ounces will equal about eight to ten chiles.

  1. Find a recipe that calls for a small amount of Mexican chocolate. This recipe from Mexican cooking enthusiast Rick Bayless calls for only 2 oz of chocolate in a very large batch. It calls for additional sugar but you can probably omit it if you're concerned about the sugar.

  2. Alternately, find a recipe that uses cocoa powder instead of bar chocolate like this one from the Food Network. There's no sugar in cocoa powder.

There's no one recipe for mole so you should be able to adapt whatever recipe you have or find so that you get the flavors you like.

Catija
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