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Anonimo

Dec 23, 2005, 1:13 AM

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Mole De Olla

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We are here "de vacaciones" in México City. There's a Señora on the corner, in our Colonia, cooking good stuff such as tlacoyos, huaraches and the Soup of the Day. Yesterday, we were delighted to discover that the soup was Mole de Olla.
I ran to the apartment and got a pot so we could take it "para llevar". It was delicious, chock-ful of chunks of fresh vegetables, beef and a mildly spicy chile caldo.
But we can't figure out what the bitter vegetable in it was. It was in medium, translucent chunks, and strikingly bitter. Could it have been Bitter Melon? I have never before heard of that being used in traditional Mexican cooking.
Photo below of the big pot of Mole de Olla.

Saludos,
Anonimo

(This post was edited by Anonimo on Dec 23, 2005, 7:02 AM)

esperanza

Dec 23, 2005, 6:31 AM

Post #2 of 4 (1045 views)

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Re: [Anonimo] Mole De Olla

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Anónimo, I suspect that the bitter vegetable is xoconostle, a type of tuna noted for its bitter flavor that is used in various dishes including churipo. When I was at La Merced last week I noticed lots of them.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Anonimo

Dec 23, 2005, 7:01 AM

Post #3 of 4 (1043 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Mole De Olla

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I suspected xoconostle also, but I was thinking it was sour.
There was another fruit in the mole de olla, one that we had on our breakfast fruit plates at Hotel Rancho San Cayetano. It's pale and has small, hard black seeds. (I eventually requested they not put any on my plate, as I found it less than pleasant). I think it was another type of tunas, but a sour one.

Why don't I just get dressed and go out to the corner and ask the cook? :-)
That's one of the wonderful things about Mexico.

Saludos,
Anonimo

Anonimo

Dec 23, 2005, 9:30 AM

Post #4 of 4 (1026 views)

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Re: [Anonimo] Mole De Olla

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Hola, I just got back from a pleasant stop at the same street corner stand. Today there was no soup, but there were romeritos and bacalao.
I was saving my appetite for a visit to El Bajío at 1:30, so I only got a tostada de bacalao. I took pictures but they came out fuzzy. (I think my camera lens needs cleaning).
I asked the cooks what the unusual vegetables were in the Mole de Olla de ayer. She told me that the bitter one was a form of bitter chayote, and that the sour fruit with the hard black seeds was xoconostle.

The tostada de bacalao was very tasty, better than any that I've had before. It was garnished with long, skinny yellow chiles.

I think they like me. They let me take a plastic plate with the tostada back to the apartment, to be returned later. They also made jokes about sharing the two bottles of wine I was carrying.

Saludos,
Anonimo