Pistachio Green Mole (Mole Verde de Pistache)
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 3 to 4zucchini or any variety of summer squashes, cut into 1-inch pieces
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 4tablespoons grapeseed oil
- ¼small white onion, roughly chopped
- 1small garlic clove, sliced
- 1poblano chile, sliced
- 1güero chile, banana pepper or New Mexico yellow chile, sliced
- 1cup finely diced tomatillos
- 1cup roasted shelled pistachios
- 1cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 2fresh or dried hoja santa leaves
- ½cup baby spinach
- 1cup assorted greens, such as cilantro leaves, amaranth leaves or purslane
- 2cups cooked white rice
- Corn tortillas
For the Squash
For the Mole
For Serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
347 calories; 23 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 10 grams polyunsaturated fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 591 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Roast until lightly brown, about 15 to 25 minutes.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, make the mole: In a pot, heat the grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chiles and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatillos and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Step 3
Add ⅔ cup water and the pistachios and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a blender along with the cilantro, hoja santa and spinach. Blend until smooth, about 3 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
- Step 4
Serve the mole warm, with the roasted zucchini. Top with greens and serve rice and tortillas alongside.
Tip
- Leftover mole can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week. To reheat, add a bit of water and warm in a pot over medium heat.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Trixie415
Absolutely outstanding! I used dried hoja Santa leaves. If you are having trouble finding them, they are also called Yerba santa, root beer plant, and Mexican pepperleaf, so look for those. I used 1.5 tsp of dried, crushed leaves, and that was just right. Next time I am definitely doubling the mole and freezing - so many possibilities....
LJK
This mole is also a terrific dip; I extended the leftovers with yogurt and served with crackers and tortilla chips.
Bret
I’ve eaten at multiple Olvera restaurants, including the original Pujol, so had high hopes for the recipe but low expectations for myself as cook. The mole turned out spectacular. I didn’t manage to find hoja santa, but used a couple basil leaves and three stalks of tarragon to add the licorice flavor. I served with a big spoonful of rice and warmed up black beans sprinkled with paprika, avocado with Maldon sea salt, and the squash (one summer and one zucchini). Would add a dash of lime too.
Betsy
This was delicious! Make a double recipe and freeze it. I echo the other comment about leftovers being amazing - we put it on eggs, yum!
riley
This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. It’s easy, full of flavor and uses my bountiful csa squash in an interesting way (just when I think I’ve tried every iteration known to human). Although the recipe is fine as is, I would recommend adding water if the mole seizes up in the blender. I like it a little more saucy anyways. I could also see elevating the dish by ditching the rice, making your own tortillas, and doing a spoon push situation on a nice plate.
gurukaram
Oh my goodness! This recipe is worth the cost of my NYT Cooking subscription! Yum, yum, yum. Subtle and so good that you want to roll around in the sauce or at least eat every bit of it!
cakejunkie
This was really good! Made some substitutions out of necessity (a can of diced green chiles for the guero chile, arugula for the spinach, skipped the hoja santa) and loved it! The leftovers would make a great dip for tortilla chips. Would make again!
ellen
Holy cow this was AMAZING. Total showstopper! Turned out more of a paste than a sauce so I recommend more water if you are going for sauce
LPD
Exceeded my expectations on all levels! Amazing!
vikingdandy
I’ve made this several times always with great results! Delicious on roasted vegetables, chicken or rice and beans. I recently got a smoothy blender (Bullet) and after running it through the Vita mix I cooled it and put it in the bullet resulting in a much creamier mole.
dee kelleher
So I did make, this almost as written, did not track down hoja santa leaves and they might have made a big difference, but without them, the sauce was underwhelming. But the zucchini, simply cut into 1 inch pieces, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, yields a creamy and delicious treat. I love zucchini and have roasted it and cooked it multiple ways and this was a revelation.
Lauren G.
Wow! No idea what Santa leaves are and knew I wouldn’t find them at our local market on San Juan island, WA, but I followed another reviewer‘a suggestion to substitute basil and tarragon. This dish was easy to make (aside from some relatively time consuming prep), and I couldn’t believe it when I realized upon eating that the dish is vegan. This meat-eater approves. Delicious!
Ginger
How much mole is created in this recipe?
Chef Egon
Pretty tasty. I made it as a sauce to go with cod. I didn't have hoja santa so I used Thai basil for the licorice notes
caniam
Delicious, used Anaheim chili’s b/c that is what I had and arugula rather than spinach. Divine!
Sarah
Wow! I couldn’t find all of the authentic Mexican ingredients so I had to hack this together a bit, but it still turned out great. I had to use a jalapeño instead of the guero chili and fennel seeds instead of the oja santa. My husband loved it as well. Next time I’ll try to plan ahead and see if I can get some of the more authentic ingredients, but I’d say go ahead and make it even if you can’t find them.
sami
I wasn’t very enthused by how this turned out. The flavor was ok, the dish overall was so so. Probably will not make again.
SharonATX
This was really good. We ordered the hoja santa leaves on Amazon (even our local Fiesta market here in Texas didn't have them) and are glad we did because the flavor makes the dish. We also ended up using an entire onion, more tomatillos, and chicken stock instead of water. Lovely and fresh--perfect for a weeknight dinner. 4.5 stars.
mask
Personally I didn’t like this, I really like all the flavors individually but found the pistachios extremely overwhelming in the mole. If I were to make again I’d probably half the pistachios. That being said some of my dinner guests enjoyed this immensely.
Private notes are only visible to you.
Advertisement
