A traditional Mole Poblano with peppers, spices, tomato and a bit of chocolate with red beans. Served over rice with salsa and cheese.
Myra spent a lot of time in Mexico. She loved the culture and especially the food. On one of her trips there she became good friends with a family that lived in Merida, Yucatan. They didn’t like to go to their house on the beach in the winter as the temperatures only got up to 80 or 85 degrees, and that was too chilly for them. So in the winter she would spend a month or more at their beach house in a little town called Progresso. Often James and I would join her.
The house had a decent kitchen which allowed us to cook anything we found interesting at the market. James loved that he could go to the hardware store and buy beer (as long as he returned the empty beer bottles). And of course, Myra was not afraid to ask how to make a dish, or what the ingredients were. Before you could find all of these ingredients in Cincinnati, we would pack cans of chipotles and jars of sauces in our suitcases so we could make authentic Mexican food when we got back home.
When James and I first moved to Denver, he, Myra and I once spent a Saturday going to all of the Mexican grocery stores we could locate, and tried all of the house-made burritos they had to see which we liked best. Then we bought all of the ingredients we loved that were so hard to find in Cincinnati 30 years ago.

The secret ingredient for this Red Bean Mole recipe that Myra discovered is Dona Maria Mole. I checked online and it is easy to find in Safeway and Kroger stores, so it’s available most everywhere in the U.S.A.
Red Bean Mole is a really easy dish to make and it’s so good. Top it with James’s Salsa, melted cheese and lettuce. This is comfort food for me!

Red Bean Mole
Equipment
- 1 pot that will fit the cans of beans and sauce
- 1 food processor
Ingredients
- 1 15.5 oz jar of Dona Maria Mole
- 1 6 oz can of tomato paste
- 2 15.5 oz cans of red beans
Instructions
- In the processor, mix together the jar of Dona Maria Mole and the can of tomato paste.
- Dump the cans of red beans and their juice in a pot on the stove. Add the mix of mole and tomato paste. Heat and serve over brown rice. You may have to add a little more water if it looks too thick.For more ideas on how to serve, see below.
Notes

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