Last weekend when I was at the grocery store, I bought chili powder. All week, I've been chuckling gleefully to myself at odd moments just thinking of what I was going to make with it: mole sauce. Teehee, mole sauce. I remember the first time I ordered chicken mole at a restaurant, I thought putting chocolate on meat was just about the craziest thing ever. I still feel giddy and silly when I think about the combination of chocolate and spices and chicken. Today, after waiting all week in anticipation, I finally made chicken mole for dinner. I won't try to pretend that my recipe is authentic, but it does at least attempt to stay true to my memory of what chicken mole tastes like. This recipe is definitely not for the faint of heart. With the rich combination of chocolate, peanut butter, and chili powder, you should plan on downing at least two glasses of water while you eat it.

Ingredients:
2 chicken drumsticks
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
1 tomatillo, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp peanut butter
8 oz canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
slivered almonds and chopped cilantro to garnish.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Next, heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat and brown the chicken. Put the chicken in an oven-safe dish in the oven, and set a timer for 50 minutes. Sautee the garlic and tomatillo in the skillet. Add the tomato sauce and the water, and heat until boiling. Put the bittersweet chocolate into the skillet and stir it into the sauce as it melts. Stir in the peanut butter.  Add the chili powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and cumin and cook the sauce, stirring, until it looks like melted milk chocolate. Pour the sauce over the chicken, then put the chicken back in the oven to finish cooking. When the chicken is fully cooked, it will not show any pink when you cut into it. Serve the chicken over long-grain white rice, and garnish it with slivered almonds and chopped cilantro.