Slow Cooker Chicken Mole

Video HERE

As slow cooker recipes go, this is an OK variation. My favoured recipe involves cooking the sauce on the hob, then adding it to cooked chicken - but that needs a lot more time in the kitchen, stirring the pot and I don't always have the time.

You Will Need: (Serves 4-6)
FLAVOUR PASTE
2 Onions
4c Garlic
50g Prunes or Raisins, stewed in tea*
50g Unsweetened Cocoa or Dark Chocolate, grated
1tbsp Smoked Paprika
2tsp Ground Cinnamon
2tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1tsp Coriander Seeds
3 Dried Red Chillies

6 Chicken Thighs or Drumsticks**
2tbsp Breadcrumbs***
400g tin Chopped Tomatoes
2tbsp Peanut Butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 Star Anise

*I prefer tea with some more flavour, Earl Grey works well. Put the prunes or raisins (or sultanas) in a bowl with a teabag and cover with boiling water. Leave to steep for a couple of hours.
**These are a great cheap cut, but I am not so keen on brown chicken meat. Chicken breast meat doesn't appreciate 8 hours of cooking, which is why I lean towards making the sauce separately. I prefer boneless, and definitely remove the skin, this can become unpleasantly fatty otherwise.
***Breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs both work well.

Method:

1. Put the paste ingredients in a blender and whizz to a paste.
2. Cut a couple of slashes into the meat and chop into chunks, then coat in the paste. Cover and marinate in the fridge overnight.
3. Transfer the marinaded chicken to the slow cooker crock, sprinkle over the breadcrumbs. Pour over the tomatoes and rinse out the tin with about 200ml water* and add to the crock with the peanut butter** and star anise.
4. Cover and cook for 7-8 hours on LOW.
5. Serve with rice and a sprinkling of coriander.

*Slow Cookers are great at retaining the moisture that comes out of the ingredients as well as what you add, which is not a problem with the hob-top version. I have found that adding more water leaves the sauce soupy and I have to finish on HIGH with the lid on the skew to thicken it, so no more than half a tin of extra water is best.
**Unless you use crunchy peanut butter you will not notice it in the finished sauce, but it aids thickening and you would definitely miss it if you didn't add it. Other nut butters are usable, but I'm not sure how well they would work on the texture.

This isn't my favourite recipe, as I said, but it is a workable one, requiring only 5-10 minutes of prep... I will do a proper traditional Mole recipe in the future.