Black bean mole sauce with roasted squash

Serves

2 People

Cooking Time

60 minutes

Season

Autumn

Winter

Dietary

Vegetarian

No moles required! Mole (pronounced MOH-lay) is a Mexican sauce that's absolutely packed with flavour, thanks to spices, dried fruit and the secret ingredients- dark chocolate, creating a sweet and savoury sensation to pair with black beans and top with roasted squash and some lightly pickled red cabbage.

Ingredients

1 onion
1 red chilli
3 cloves garlic
5 dates
Olive oil
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Smoked paprika
400g tin tomatoes
30g dark chocolate
Half a squash (around 500g)
1 tin of black beans
Half a cabbage
1 lime
Salt
Feta cheese (optional)

Method

Step 1.

Pre heat your oven to 200c. Peel and cut your squash into large chunks. Add to a roasting tin with a drizzle of olive oil, a small pinch of cumin seeds and season with salt. Place in the oven to cook for around 30-40 mins.

Step 2.

Finely slice your onion, roughly chop the chili then crush and finely chop the garlic. Add this to a saucepan with 2 tbsp olive oil, a pinch of salt, the dates and cumin seeds. Cook this on a low heat for around 10 mins until the onion is soft and lightly browned.

Step 3.

Decore, then finely shred the cabbage. Add to a bowl then squeeze over the lime and season with salt. Set aside.

Step 4.

To a blender add the onion mixture, cinnamon, smoked paprika, tomatoes and peanut butter. Blend until smooth. Add this back to the pan.

Step 5.

Measure out around 100ml of water. Heat the sauce over a low heat and cook adding water every so often as it thickens. Keep cooking until the water is used around 15-20 minutes. Drain your black beans then add this to the sauce. Turn off the heat then grate in the dark chocolate, mix well. Taste and adjust your seasoning adding more salt if needs be. Take your squash out of the oven.

Step 6.

Now you are ready to serve. On a large serving plate spread the sauce on the bottom, then add the squash, then the cabbage. If using feta crumble this over the top then tuck in!