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Chicken Wings with Easy Mole Sauce

Chicken wings halved, broiled, and simmered in a chili, chocolate, and peanut butter mole sauce, served over rice.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Chicken Wings with Easy Mole Sauce

Ovenpreheated broiler, about 4 inches from the heat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a large heavy skillet sauté the onion in the oil over moderately high heat, stirring, until it is golden brown.

  2. In a mortar with a pestle crush the coriander seeds and the aniseed, stir them into the onion mixture with the chili powder, the sugar, the cinnamon, and the cloves. Cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring, for 1 minute.

  3. Stir in the cocoa powder, the peanut butter, 2 cups of the broth, the tomatoes, the raisins, the garlic paste, and salt to taste. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Prepare and broil the wings

  1. While the sauce is cooking cut off the wing tips, reserving them for another use such as stock if desired, and halve the wings at the joint.

  2. Pat the wings dry, season them with salt and pepper, and on the oiled rack of a broiler pan broil them, skin side up, under a preheated broiler about 4 inches from the heat for 10 minutes, or until they are golden. Turn the wings and broil them for 10 minutes more, or until they are golden.

Finish and serve

  1. In a blender or food processor purée the sauce in batches, adding the remaining broth as necessary to thin it to the desired consistency.

  2. Transfer the sauce to the skillet, add the wings, and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

  3. Serve the wings with the mole sauce over the rice, sprinkled with the sesame seeds.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1248Calories
48 gProtein
69 gFat
116 gCarbs

Counts 16 of 18 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 16 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Coriandernot in our table0
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Coriander + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Coriander + peanuttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together528 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Coriander + clovetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,221 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Onion + peanuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,043 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken wings
Provide the main protein, which browns under the broiler and simmers tender in the sauce.
Cocoa powder
Adds deep color and bitter, roasted depth that defines the mole flavor.
Peanut butter
Adds richness and body, thickening the sauce and rounding its flavor.
Chicken broth
Provides liquid that lets the sauce be puréed and thinned to the desired consistency.
Chili powder
Supplies the main heat and earthy chili flavor of the sauce.
Onion
Browns to build a sweet, savory base for the sauce.

The step that matters

Puréeing and simmering the sauce. Puréeing in batches gives a smooth sauce, and the wings need the full simmer so they absorb flavor and cook through. Thin with broth gradually, since the sauce thickens as it simmers and reduces.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, sugar, cinnamon, clove, cocoa powder, peanut, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, sugar, cinnamon, clove, cocoa powder, peanut, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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