Cerdo Con Mole Agridulce & Tomatillo Salsa for Impromptu Saturday

I must tell you about this sauce from Dona Tomás Cookbook titled Discovering Authentic Mexican Cooking. It is fantastic and tasted nothing like any of those sauces I´ve tasted in the mainstream mexican restaurant I´ve dined in.  I think Mexican food is so underated and unexplored that this wonderful cookbook which I have been flipping thru lately is such an eye opener for a foodie like me.  The balance of flavour from spicy, bitter, sweet and then sour is so delicate and refreshing, and what I really like about Mexican cooking is the call for fresh produce and a good balance of carb, protein and the essential green - the fibre part.  Herbs are often used too and I just love the amazing mix of colour that screams out from my plate which incidently is the colour of mexican flag too.  Mexico, one of those countries I would love to visit one day ... when it is safe.

The local supermarket which I frequent had starting swapping cherry tomatoes from Spain to Holland lately, and although it is now deem safe for consumption, sadly, a lot of people are still shying from it.  I got adventurous yesterday.  I figured, if its meant to be, it is meant to be and especially so when I recently learned that an aunt is at late stage of lung cancer although she is a non-smoker.  Just like her 3rd daughter whom suffered the same fate many years ago and pass away so fast, it leaved us feeling surreal and unjust that such a thing could happen to such a beautiful, normal soul.  As I am typing this, most of her close family member are beside her now.

So, back to Dona Tomas´s cookbook.  I love this book.  I love the way how the history of each dish is explained in lay-man´s term.  The cooking procedure however is nothing close to how we cook nowadays.  A lot of it involve very tedious and long cooking process just to get the right flavour on the table.  For example the sauce you see here.  It took me more than an hour to make.  The chilli pepper had to be toasted on a pan for specific time, then later soaking it in cold water for another 30 minutes to rehydrate them.  Then blending them into a paste and setting it aside.  The other ingredients of onion, garlic, pineapple have to be fried separately until its flavour is bursting with goodness.  Then setting aside again before purying and then mixing with the earlier chilli paste.  Then returning back to pot to be cooked again with chicken stock, orange juice, lime juice, all spice, cinnamon powder, clove and salt/pepper seasoning.  Then cook for 1 hour under low heat.  How tedious is that?!

But it is worth it.  My only complain is, I SHOULD have made a bigger batch for keeping.  The sauce is super delicious.  Hubby wiped his plate clean with toast bread simply because he loved it.  Thank you Dona Tomäs!  I am on the roll and there´s sooo many recipes in there which I wanna try so stay tune!

We enjoyed our dinner with a dash of Malibu and Pineapple Juice which makes it Pina Colada!  And oh .. I must share you this too ... this is a limited edition clear Malibu Bottle which came with 4 coloured pen for you to design on! It think it is so cool and personal and the best part is, it is the same price as the standard bottle! For more information, click here.

Here´s what we had for lunch yesterday. A soup of brocolli, cauliflower and this veggie call Romanesco Brocolli which is a cross of the former two!  I love the green colour that comes with it ... :-)