We visited our old New Jersey friend, Woody Widrow and his wife Kathy. Both are community organizers; Woody is the founder and director of RAISE, an asset development  organization for low-income people and Kathy is an advocate for the  improvement of  housing conditions for farm workers.

We walked around Austin but the weather was threatening with a big storm pending. That night Woody made a great Mexican meal for us which included his fantastic Mole sauce  See below for the recipe for Woody’s Chili Mole Sauce. That night there was a terrible storm and much of the central part of the state got inundated with many of the areas getting 4- 7inches of rain.

Woody’s Ancho Chili Mole Sauce

2-3 Ancho Chilies (dried Poblano Chilies)

1 Slice of Onion (1/4 to 1/2 inch thick)

1 Large garlic clove with skin on

1 Plum tomato (optional, if using brown it and then cut open and discard seeds and membrane and then chop and add to blender with onion and garlic).

1 cinnamon stick

5-6 whole cloves

1-2 tortilla chips

1/2 to 3/4 cup water

1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa (not for hot chocolate) or 1/2 package Ibarra Chocolate

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1. Heat up a cast iron skillet on medium heat  (if you don’t have one, a heavy skillet will do) and put in the ancho chilies. Push down occasionally on the chilies.  Cook for a couple of minutes until the chilies start to brown.  Take them out.
2. Put onion slice, garlic and cook until onion is soft and garlic is browned.  Take them out.
3. Put in cinnamon stick and whole cloves and watch carefully.  When brown remove.
4. When ancho chilies are cool, break them into pieces.  Discard the stems and the seeds.
5. Put the ancho chile pieces in a blender.  Add the cinnamon stick, cloves, the tortilla chips and 1/2 cup of water.
6. Blend in onion, garlic and tomato (if using) It should be thick. If it seems too thick add a little more water.
7. Put the sauce back into the skillet and heat on low heat.  Add the cocoa and brown sugar.  When it starts to bubble, taste and depending on your taste add more cocoa and/or brown sugar.
8. It is ready and can be used with pork loin, chicken breast, or other things. It can be used for taco and other tortilla recipes.

9. The sauce can be kept refrigerated for up to 1 month.