Please, please, please don’t be intimidated about these mole fries.
I know just looking at the recipe it looks crazy. I mean who spends over 4 hours making fries?!!
But most of it is time you are chilling, waiting for the beef to slowly braise in the oven (a step you can also do the day before if you want to).
Let’s break them down piece by piece shall we?
Making These Mole Fries Is Really Just A Series of Steps
Step 1: Make the Black Mole Sauce
Instead of making mole from scratch, I use Guelaguetza’s Black Mole Paste. This makes preparing the mole sauce super easy, you just need to add a bit of tomato, some broth, a hunk of chocolate, and some salt.
Step 2: Braise the Beef
After the sauce is made pour it over some browned boneless short ribs, cover, and slowly braise in the oven until they are tender and falling apart.
Step 3: Make the Fries
Since we’re making a lot of different toppings and braising beef and all kinds of other stuff for this recipe, I thought it would be easier to use frozen French fries here instead of cutting our own.
Making the fries are pretty simple, just toss some frozen French fries with a few spices and salt and bake in the oven. Once they are done you can move on to the fun part—the toppings!!
Step 4: The Toppings
This recipe looks really long because I wanted to give you guys several ideas for toppings. Below is a list of what I love on my mole fries, but feel free to make them your own by adding your favorite ingredients. You can be as creative as you’d like or make them super simple too. I added:
- Big, fat lima beans
- Caramelized onions
- Aged white Cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
- Quick marinated tomatoes tossed with sliced serrano chiles, cilantro, and scallions.
- Micro greens
Loaded Black Mole Braised Beef Fries
Oven-baked French fries topped with Oaxacan black mole braised beef, giant white beans, Cheddar, sour cream and more.
Ingredients
For the Beef:
- 1 large tomato, cored and quartered
- 3 tablespoons Oaxacan Black Mole Paste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 quarter piece Ibarra chocolate
- 1 pound boneless short ribs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the Beans:
- 1/2 cup dried lima beans
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
For the Onions:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
For the Tomatoes:
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 1 scallion, minced
- 1 serrano chile, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon minced cilantro
- 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
For the Fries:
- 1 (24-ounce) bag frozen French fries
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground California chile powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 cup grated sharp white Cheddar cheese
Additional Toppings:
- Crumbled queso fresco
- micro greens
- sour cream
- lime wedges
Instructions
To Make the Beef:
- Heat oven to 300°F.
- Place the tomato in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Strain and blend until smooth in a blender (careful to cover the blender with a folded paper towel and not the lid which could explode with the hot liquid).
- Strain tomato liquid back into the saucepan. Add mole paste, broth, chocolate, and season with salt (about 1/2 teaspoon depending on your broth, paste, tastes, etc.) Bring to a simmer and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat.
- Season beef generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Heat oil in a frying pan until shimmering. Add beef and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes total. Transfer to a baking dish, pour mole sauce over the beef and cover the dish with foil.
- Braise the beef in the oven until very tender and falling apart, about 1 1/2- 2 hours. Shred beef in the pan then set aside. This step can be done a day in advance, uncover, let cool, then cover again with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
For the Beans:
- Rinse beans and place in a small saucepan. Cover with about 2 inches of water. Add bay leaf and black peppercorns and bring to a simmer. Cook until soft, about 30 minutes. Season the cooking water with salt and let cool in the liquid until ready to use. Strain beans before adding to the fries.
For the Onions:
- Heat oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized and brown, about 10 minutes, adjusting the heat if necessary so they don't burn. Set aside.
For the Tomatoes:
- Toss the tomatoes with the scallion, chile, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt and set aside.
For the Fries:
- Heat oven to 425°F and arrange a rack in the upper third.
- Combine fries, oil, salt, chile powder, coriander, and white pepper in a large bowl. Toss until fries are well coated then spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Bake until crisp and browned, about 30 minutes.
- Leave on the baking sheet or transfer to a large serving dish and cover with beef, some of the mole sauce, strained beans, caramelized onions, and Cheddar cheese.
- Return fries to oven and bake until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove and top with tomatoes, and any or all of the additional toppings.
Notes
You may or may not use all the toppings for the fries. Add the braised beef, beans, onions, and cheese to your liking. Leftovers of any of these make awesome tacos!
One More Thing
Did you love this post? I want to know! Leave me a comment and snap a photo for Instagram. Tag @holajalapeno so I can see your beautiful creation! Knowing that this recipe worked for you is super important to me. If you run into trouble shoot me a message on Instagram and I’ll walk you through it.
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