Chicken legs in a Mexican mole

This is the second of my unpublished Mexican street food recipes, a mole. A real Mexican mole requires a very long shopping list and hours of cooking. There is chopping, mixing and roasting involved. It contains difficult to find chilli varieties, stale bread, nuts and then another twenty or so ingredients. This version (for recipe, click 'read more') is super simple and quick. It most probably won't fool a Mexican person, but it has the basics covered - chillies, chocolate, nuts - and is incredibly tasty and rich.

Chicken legs in a Mexican mole

Serves 4

1kg chicken legs

4 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked and stalks chopped

2 red chillies, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 yellow or orange pepper, chopped

2 tbsp hot paprika

2 tsp ground cumin

400g tomatoes on the vine

2 tbsp smooth peanut butter

2 tsp cocoa

2 tbsp demerara sugar

Season the chicken legs with salt and pepper. Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken on all sides. Remove from the pan and put to one side.

Pour the remaining olive oil into the pan and add the onion, coriander stalks, chilli and garlic. Sweat until the onion is soft (don't let it brown). Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any bits of chicken that are stuck there and stir them into the veg. Add the pepper, paprika and cumin. Fry for another 3 minutes.

Using a sharp knife, score a cross into the base of the tomatoes. Dip them in boiling water for 20 seconds or so, lift them out and leave to cool. Skin and chop them. Add the tomatoes, peanut butter, cocoa, sugar, 500ml water and 1 tsp salt. Stir together, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes (no lid).

Place the chicken legs into the sauce and put a lid on the pan. Simmer for another 45 minutes until the chicken is done. Sprinkle over the coriander leaves and serve with rice.