Cooking with CannaBis: MoLe-inspired BBQ sauCe

Mole-inspired BBQ sauce with a kick!

Yield 16 ounces 10 mg THC 3 dry guajillo chiles 2 dry ancho chiles 1 chile arbol 1 shallot (quartered) 1/4 cup almonds 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds 1 tablespoon sesame seeds or toasted sesame oil 1/4 cup neutral oil such as avocado 1/4 teaspoon cumin seed 2 cloves 1/4 tsp Mexican oregano 2 .5 boiling veg or chicken stock 2 Dose of Saucy Roadies (infused BBQ sauce pictured here)

3/4 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate 1/4 cup maple syrup Splash of red wine vinegar Salt to taste

Begin by wiping the dry chiles with a damp cloth, then you may remove the stems and seeds . You do this by either pulling their little heads off or using small scissors .

Heat high-sided sauté pan, toast nuts and seeds moving constantly until they begin to smell slightly toasty . If they get too much color, they will turn bitter so mind that . Also, if you’re using sesame oil instead of sesame seeds, you’ll want to reserve that and add it later . Place toasted nuts and seeds in heatproof bowl .

To the same pan, heat the 1/4 cup of neutral oil . Then, briefly toast your chiles in the oil . You’ll want to turn them constantly and quickly until they appear bright in color . This process is quick, under a minute; too long on the heat turns dry chiles bitter (except árbol, they like a little char) .

Remove chiles from the pan and add them to the same bowl as the nuts . In the same pan that you removed the chiles from you can toast the cumin, cloves, and char the shallot . Once spices smell fragrant and the shallot is charred add them to the rest of the ingredients in the bowl .

In the same pan (YES THE SAME PAN!) heat up your stock (you can also use water and bouillon) just taste for salt along the way . Once boiling pour into the bowl with all your other ingredients . At this point sprinkle the oregano over it, cover, and allow everything to do its thing for about 15 minutes or until it cools down a bit .

Once cool, pour everything into a blender and blend until smooth . Heat another tablespoon of oil (if using sesame oil you’ll use it here) in that same pan you’ve been using . Once oil heats up, but not smoking, pour in your blended salsa . Careful it will splatter! Once it’s nice and hot mix in your chocolate, saucy BBQ sauce, and sweetener . (I used maple but use what you like!) Take it off the heat but keep stirring until all chocolate has melted . Taste for salt and finish with a splash of red wine vinegar .

I pour it over charred fennel which makes a great vegetarian entree or an amazing side dish . It’s also fabulous with chicken, beef, or pork too .

Recipe by Andres Alulema, chef and creator of Micuna restaurant in San Francisco. Micuna is a Latin American vegan concept that prides itself in keeping food accessible through a community-funded-pay-what-you-can program. @micunakitchensf