- Got it. Hey, it's Selena,
and I'm proud to say that I'm no longer
a complete novice in the kitchen.
I'm getting better every day
thanks to the help of some of the most
amazing chefs in the country.
Is that the door?
I might need your help, I might not.
They send me the ingredients
and take me through it step-by-step
so that you and I can learn it together.
Oh, yeah, definitely needed your help.
- Oh, you need my help big time today!
- Look, it looks like Cinco de Mayo in here.
They're in their kitchens and I'm in mine,
so we're going to learn
how to make something together, apart.
- This stuff all looks amazing.
Wait! - Oh, wait, let's see.
- Got some instructions. - "Hey, Selena.
"I'm so excited to cook with you.
"Before you do anything else,
"I would like you to do one thing.
"Roast some vegetables to prep for the lesson.
I'll see you soon. XO, Marcela."
Okay, so...
preheat the oven to 400.
We need two tomatoes, halved.
Mm-hmm.
One large onion, halved.
Two large unpeeled garlic cloves.
- Want to do it with the knife?
- No, I'm scared of knives.
- Place the tomato, onion, and garlic
on a baking sheet.
Drizzle lightly with olive oil
and roast about 55 minutes.
All righty, the first thing down.
Let's hope we did it right.
Okay.
- Yeah!
- Selena and Marcela, take one.
Let's get her in.
Hi, Marcela. - Hi, Selena.
Oh, my gosh! How are you?
- Good. How are you?
- Good, thank you. Nice to meet you.
Welcome to my home in Chula Vista.
- On this episode, I'm joined by Chef Marcela Valladolid.
She's been the host of multiple cooking shows
and is known for championing
the flavors of Mexican culture.
It's a heritage we share
and I'm so excited to learn from her.
My best friend Raquelle is here.
- Hi, Marcela. Raquelle.
- Hey, Raquelle, how's it going, how's it going?
I don't have my best friend here,
but the family's here.
- Yeah, that's great. - Can't wait to meet everyone.
- We're gonna meet them all. All right, what do we do?
Where do we get started? - For today's lesson,
I am going to demystify mole for you.
We're gonna make shredded chicken mole enchiladas
topped with the traditional mole,
Mexican crema, cilantro, white onion,
sesame seeds, and edible flowers.
Mole's a really special dish
and it does take a little bit of time,
but it's worth the effort.
- I'm so ready. Let's do this.
'Cause I grew up around my family
on my Mexican side, so we would always
make things like homemade tortillas
and salsa and tamales,
but since I moved here,
nothing's the same as my grandma's,
so this will be a little bit special to me.
- All we want to do is, like, go back, right?
And smell the smells and think of grandma
and think of mom or,
and sometimes it's just really hard
'cause those recipes are either super complex
or we don't have the ingredients, so.
This isn't complex.
It looks complex!
- It's just a lot of, like,
mise en place.
Okay, so you have your grocery bags, right?
Did you unpack stuff?
Or, like, what's the deal? - Yeah, I did.
- Did you see chiles? Dried chiles?
- Let's see.
- We're gonna start with something easy.
You have to take off the stem,
so you just rip off the top part.
It should come off all by itself.
You're just gonna take out the seeds.
As many as you can, all of them don't need to come out.
We need, like, 2 ounces of these,
which is probably the whole bag.
- Oh, no. - It's so cool.
Do you want to try one? - Yeah, I'll try.
- I feel like there's still some in here.
- It's okay if you leave some in there.
It's totally fine.
- It's like a little rattle. - Yeah, you're right.
- These guys have to be, kind of, flash fried.
So grab a pot. - Okay.
- And then any kind of vegetable oil will work,
but I prefer avocado oil
because of its high smoke point
and that's just, kind of, better for your health.
Just pour the whole thing in there.
- The whole thing? - Yeah.
- The whole thing? - Yeah!
- Okay, so after that,
you're gonna find your chile negros,
which is literally a black-colored chile
that's kind of--it looks like a giant raisin.
- Oh, yeah, I found them.
- Same thing, take off the stem
and then pour out the seeds.
- Where are you from originally?
- I was born in San Diego,
but I was actually raised in Tijuana.
My mom wanted us to speak both languages fluently,
so I would get up at, like, 6:00 in the morning every day
and cross the international border,
go to school in San Diego
and then go back to, like, have dinner
and sleep at home in Tijuana.
- Whoa, that's amazing.
- When I think about it, it's totally weird
that I was crossing an international border,
like, every day to get to school.
But that's such common practice
for folks here at the border.
For us, it's more like a region.
It's not like it's two different countries.
- That's so cool. - How's your oil looking?
- So my oil is looking good.
- Okay, so take your wooden spoon
and put the handle inside the oil
and if it starts to bubble-- is it bubbling?
- Yeah. - Then it means you're ready.
- What? That is crazy.
- Walk over with your chiles.
We're gonna add all of them in there.
Turn them a couple of times,
you want to get them
fully coated in oil.
But you gotta be really careful
because if you overcook them, they turn bitter.
And you definitely don't want that.
- Whoa, the smell is crazy. - Whoo!
- Yeah, that's your abuela right there, man.
And then after they're fried,
they're actually gonna go into a pot.
Get your pan nice and close.
Drip off the excess fat,
and then just dump all of those chiles
in that additional pan. And here's the thing,
now you have this beautiful chile-infused oil
that you can use anywhere
where you were gonna use cooking oil.
- Wow.
- Okay, go grab your vegetable broth.
So you're gonna dump, like, as much of that
in with those chiles to cover them
and then turn it on high.
- Great.
- So now it's time to measure
all of our mole spices and ingredients.
Because they're small measurements,
you can grab, like, a big plate.
Something like this.
Bring over the salted peanuts and the pepitas,
which are these green seeds right here.
- Peanuts...
- And then grab sesame seeds, raisins, and almonds,
oregano, cumin, and thyme,
peppercorns, and coriander, the same but brown.
- Perfect.
- Okay, so we're just gonna measure.
Start with 1/3 of a cup of those peanuts.
The same with the pepitas,
the pumpkin seeds, 1/3 of a cup.
You got the almonds, same. 1/3 of a cup.
And then for the next ingredients,
do, like, a scant 1/3 cup of raisins.
- So 1/3, right? - Yes, ma'am.
- I've just made a few mistakes before
so I'm double-checking.
- Here's the thing about mole.
Like, even with your biggest mistake here
in terms of measuring it, you might get, like, you know,
a little bit of extra flavor of peanuts, we'll live.
Like, the chocolate balances everything out,
so you really can't mess it up.
And then sesame seeds, same deal.
A scant 1/3 cup.
- So pretty.
- You're gonna grab the oregano.
You're gonna do two teaspoons
and then one teaspoon of cumin.
- On a side not, you guys, I just noticed
we're coming up to about 55 minutes
on our vegetables that are in the oven.
- We can take it out of the oven.
I'll take mine out too.
Thank you for reminding me.
- Oh, wow.
- Ooh.
Yummy. - This looks great.
- And that's just gonna end up
going in your pan a little bit later,
so we can let that cool down.
So we did cumin last.
And then we're gonna move on to thyme.
You've got that one teaspoon of the thyme.
And then you have peppercorns and coriander.
So do--like a little handful,
which'll give you, like, maybe,
I don't know, 10 peppercorns.
Put them there with your spices.
Same with the coriander.
And then you've got one cinnamon stick.
Pick a thin one and maybe tear it in half.
- Smells so good.
- How long have you been cooking?
- Professionally? Like 20 years.
People always ask me if I used to cook with my mom,
but in my house, it was, like,
you weren't allowed to mess with, like, mom's cooking
or anybody's cooking, so I wasn't really
in the kitchen when I was younger.
I started much later in life.
- See, I love hearing that.
It gives hope for us starting later in life.
- It is what it is.
Some of us love it, some of us don't.
And some of us have to order it from takeout.
Yeah.
- We're moving on. We need a third pot.
Do you have something like this in your kitchen?
- This looks like the same size as yours.
- That looks perfect. Take that one.
- The chiles are making me hot.
I think I'm gonna have to take off my sweater.
- Yeah, I'm, like, sweating over here.
Okay, so we're gonna heat up that pan
that you just brought out over medium heat,
and then you're gonna take
a couple of spoonfuls of that oil.
- Mmm. - Smells good.
- Yeah, it smells so good.
- Then you're gonna find a tortilla
and break it up into maybe, like, six pieces.
And then just throw them into that hot oil
and then you're gonna find
your bolillo, which should be one of these guys.
A baguette situation that you should have
over there with your stuff.
You actually just need, like, 1/4 of it.
So you can just make a lot of sandwiches when you're done.
- Great. - Perfect.
And then rip it off into three smaller pieces
into the pan with the tortillas.
- Okay.
- Remember your roasted ingredients?
- Yeah. - Those are going in.
Do the garlic last, 'cause you're gonna do
something different with them.
Ooh, that sounds good. - Mm-hmm.
- Take your garlic cloves
and you're gonna take off the peel.
It should just kind of come off on its own.
- Whoa. So what do I do now?
- You throw them in the pot with the "tomaters."
- Okay, so turn that all around, mix it up.
Try not to let anything stick.
Just keep it moving along.
Because whatever burns turns bitter,
and you don't want that.
- You look very at ease.
- Yeah, I feel good.
I feel like I belong. - You totally belong.
So then what we're gonna do...
take your beautiful plate of spices
and you're just gonna dump that whole thing in there.
- Oh, okay. - The whole thing.
Wow.
- Just very carefully...
- That was so pretty. - And move it around.
This one is important for you to move around.
- I love that you're mixing with the tongs.
- Oh, sorry. - It's very, um--
- That's very chef-y! You could be a chef now!
See?
- I love it.
- Oh, there it is. I smell it.
This is mole, babe. - Hi, Congo.
- Cute. - Aww.
- Congo's looking at the bread.
Do not eat that bread.
Do you have dogs?
- I have two dogs, yeah.
Their names are Winnie and Daisy.
- Big dogs or little dogs?
- Little dogs.
- I got this big dog before Philip,
who is my partner,
so he was, like, the man of the house.
Now we have an actual man of the house.
Aww.
- Okay, so it's starting to get a little dark
at the bottom of the pan,
so here's what we're gonna do.
You're gonna turn off the heat
for the chiles that you have
in the pot behind you,
and then you're gonna carefully
kind of, dump them in there.
You want to shake off some of the excess liquid.
So we're gonna finish the mole,
but we still have to blend it.
- Do you want me to get a blender?
- Yes, please. We're gonna blend
everything that you just sautéed,
but we're gonna add some of this broth
to make you be able to blend it,
'cause otherwise it's too thick.
So grab, like, a bowl or a measuring cup
and grab just, like, a chunk of it.
And then you can just pop that in the blender.
So then just add plenty of broth.
Put the lid on nice and tight,
and then turn your blender on
and start low, and go all the way high.
- Whoo!
- Keep going until it's nice and smooth.
How's it looking? Is it smooth?
- It's smooth. - Okay, cool.
- Yours look lighter than ours.
- That's the thing about mole.
You--like, when you bought those chiles,
who knows how hydrated they were?
When it comes to adding the broth,
you can't really give out a measurement,
you just kind of have to see.
So mine kind of probably looks slightly different,
and here's what's great about it.
Like, you're gonna end up cooking this down so much
that any excess liquid is gonna evaporate.
So scoop up some more of those chiles
and throw them into that blender.
Now that you know what we're doing,
just throw all of it in there. We'll figure it out.
- Wow, I think we made a lot.
- And just keep adding broth.
- If you're looking at the blender, like,
fill it up to the same height as the chiles.
And then we're missing an ingredient
that gets added at this stage.
You're gonna have to find yourself this guy,
which is a tomatillo.
You actually need two of those, so...
they usually come in a papery husk like this.
- Ooh, these are cool.
- So you take the husk off of both of them.
Cut it up into small pieces
and throw it in there as well.
- I'll cut it for you. - Thank you.
- Cut it up so it blends good. - Oh.
Raquelle...
Okay, okay, okay.
What are you doing?
- She said to chop it up more so it blends better!
- Well, I--okay.
- Just listening to my girl, Marcela.
- We're getting this done. It's gonna be beautiful,
I can feel it. - It's intense.
It's really intense. - Just remember to start low,
'cause I don't want you to mess up
your beautiful face or your beautiful kitchen.
- You're very nice.
- Okay, are we good?
- Yeah, I think we are.
- Okay, cool. So pot number four.
We need pot number four.
So let's add that into the pot.
- Oh, wow. - Yummy, Sel.
- And then you're gonna turn it on
and don't taste it yet!
Because what makes mole so special
is the development of flavors,
and the only way to get that development
is literally to put it on your stovetop
and let it go.
And maybe Raquelle will be in charge
of policing the mole so it doesn't burn.
- Mole police!
- And then Selena will move on to tortillas.
- Sure. - Maybe do some cleanup first?
Okay.
Do you like listening to a lot of Spanish music?
- Oh, my gosh, yes.
I like the old-school Mexican pop artists.
Like, those are my guys. - It's funny.
I'm actually named after Selena Quintanilla, so.
- Oh, my gosh, like,
the two most famous Latina women,
like, have the same name.
- It gives me goosebumps sometimes
because I was obsessed with Selena.
I knew everything about her.
I was just such a fan,
and my real name was gonna be Priscilla,
and my dad said, "No, I want her name to be Selena."
- You're living up to that saying that says,
"Be so good at what you do,
that your idols become your competition."
And you got there.
I think in some way, you saw and heard
that it was totally possible,
and now you're like-- this, like, megastar.
- So cool. - Raquelle?
Are you stirring the mole?
- I'm loving being the mole police.
- So listen, Raquelle.
It's seriously like lava.
- Is it gonna spray me?
- Actually, like, all of, like,
the abuelitas in Mexico
have all of their hands with, like,
the scars of, like, the mole
that are, like, their battle scars.
- Oh! Okay!
I'm gonna put this back on.
Wow.
- So look for masa in your ingredients.
- Okay.
- And then, I actually sent you
a tortilla press. - Yep.
- And then the most important part of tortilla making
is to have an incredibly hot
nonstick pan.
- Where's that pan we used the other day?
Are these--I mean...
What is-- - I know.
No, that's a wok, babe.
Oh, my God.
There's these.
- Yeah, yeah! Those are nonsticks.
- Oh, good. - Yay, yay.
So take the big one and crank it on high heat
and that's where we'll make the tortillas.
And then you need a piece of plastic
in the shape of a circle
that's attached at one end, like this.
So the easiest way to do it is to take,
like, a plastic bag from the market.
- Okay, when-- - Or a zip-top--
do you have a zip-top bag?
- Something like this? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Perfect, that's awesome.
You just need to cut the sides open
so that you can open it up
and it touches both the bottom surface
and the top surface of the tortilla press.
- Okay, we're good. - Yeah.
- Okay, cool. - We got it.
- So get to your masa
and grab a small golf ball size.
- Mmm! The dough smells so good.
- Yeah, doesn't it?
If you have, like, a good Mexican market
in your neighborhood, you can buy the masa,
and that's where I got you yours from.
Perfect.
Put it in the center of your press.
And then you're gonna take the top.
Push it down, just ever so slightly,
and kind of shake it side to side if you can.
Yeah.
Let's check to see, like, our thickness.
- Okay. - There you go.
It's so cute!
- So grab the whole thing and put it in your hand
and then go straight to the griddle.
- Do I need to put anything oil or something?
- Not at all, especially because it's nonstick.
- And then just keep repeating it?
- Yeah, exactly.
You're making tortillas, guys.
- Oh, it's beautiful. Selena, come look.
- That's beautiful.
- You guys are pros.
You guys can open up your own taco shop now.
- Selly and Rocky's taco truck?
I love you. - I love you.
You're my girl.
- Can my kids say hi?
- Yeah, of course.
- This is David.
Say hi, David. - Hi!
Hola!
- And this is Anna. - Oh!
- Philip. - Hello, hello.
- Say, "Hola, Selena"!
- Hola!
- "Selena, nice to meet you"?
- Nice to--nice to meet you.
- Good job. Get outta here!
- Adios!
- That was the cutest thing ever.
- I don't even understand.
- Oh, they're so precious! - They're so cute.
- We're keeping him for sure. - Yeah.
- Now, just locate, maybe,
your rotisserie chicken,
an onion,
and your Mexican crema.
Mexico's version of... - Sour cream.
But it has, like,
a much higher fat content,
which makes it much yummier.
- That's why I like it better. - Yeah, of course.
- Try the best you can to cut off
the breast of the chicken,
and we're gonna shred it.
- The, like, meaning--
- The meaty part of the chicken.
Just kind of try--here, we'll do it with our hands.
I think it's upside down.
Uhh...
- That's the breast right there.
Yeah, that's the top-- yeah, exactly.
That's the meat that you want to get in there and grab.
That's--those are the legs.
Yeah. And then on the top
is the breast. - Kay.
- Those are the pieces of meat that you need.
So we're just shredding,
and this is gonna be the filling
for our little enchiladas.
So this is an easy hack, like,
you can make the mole from scratch,
but then purchase the rotisserie chicken.
- Okay.
- And then we're gonna take a white onion,
cut it in half.
Just watch your fingers.
And then go crosswise.
This is part of your garnish,
so you want thin slices.
Yes, yes. Okay.
Your cilantro should be in the bag somewhere.
You're gonna take a handful
and we're gonna chop it up for garnish.
Perfect. And then just...
give it a nice chop.
Perfect.
So take, like, a small sauce pan.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I'm just gonna set it over high heat.
- Let me turn it on.
- I'm just gonna clean up for a moment.
- Oh, oh!
She's wiping on the floor again.
- I'm sorry, this is my easy hack.
I'm just trying to-- - This is a new thing.
Season two, she's just been wiping things onto the floor.
- That's fine, I do it all the time,
and then I go back with a broom.
It works. - Yeah.
- Put a tablespoon of that avocado oil in there.
Oh, we actually still have to add our chocolate here.
Turn it off
so it cools down a little bit.
And then grab your Mexican chocolate.
- So many goodies!
- Oh. This.
- Yes, that's it. Just take it out of the wrapper
and cut it in half if you can.
You're gonna use a lot of strength to cut through it.
- Oh, my God, Sel. - It's okay.
- Oh, is it hard? Yeah.
Just keep--kinda push down,
eventually it'll break.
Or give it a whack.
Get your--fingers, yeah, out of the way.
There you go.
- It's not working. - It's rock solid.
- There we go. - Whoo!
- There you go.
You can literally just throw it into the pan
and stir it until it melts.
We're making it easy.
That's so hot, that lava,
but that's why I wanted you to turn the heat down
because you don't want to burn the chocolate.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Oh, whoa. So much smoke.
Will you--
turn the thing on? - Yeah.
- So then you're gonna take a pinch of salt
and put it into your mole.
- That's better.
- Oh, that wasn't...
oh, so here's the deal.
I wasn't looking, but you put the chocolate
into the pan with the oil,
not the pan with the mole.
The chocolate goes in with the mole.
- Oh!
- Which is fine.
Just forget that oil
and grab a disc of the chocolate
and cut it in half and throw it with the mole.
- Okay. - It's totally fine.
I was like, "Why does that look so thick?"
Oh, my gosh.
It's so burnt from the oil.
- Yeah, we can forget about that pot.
There you go.
So to this pan is where you're gonna add
one teaspoon of salt...
and one tablespoon of sugar.
- Okay, whew.
- Raquelle, you're gonna find
another small pot.
- Found one. - Okay, great.
Is the oil in the pan?
- Yep! - Okay, cool.
So just take, like,
a handful of that chicken,
throw it in that pan.
- Oh, yeah, that sizzle is nice.
- We're just gonna get a little cooking on the chicken.
And then you're gonna take a ladle
full of that mole
and put it in with your chicken.
You're just kind of mixing the shredded chicken
with the mole.
- Yum!
- How's it looking? - Great.
- So now it's time to put it all together on a plate.
- Whoo-hoo! - Bring your chicken.
Toasted sesame seeds should be in your grocery bags.
- These. - Oh yeah, those are toasted?
- 'Cause they're a garnish at the end.
You're gonna grab one tortilla. - Okay.
- And then you're gonna fill with about a tablespoon
of that chicken stuff.
- Yummy! - Perfect.
And then fold that over and put it on your plate.
We're gonna do five.
It's so lovely that you guys are gonna get this
with, like, fresh tortilla. - I'm so excited!
- Look how beautiful those look!
Okay, so you're gonna take your mole
and you're gonna make a yummy, like,
sauce situation down the middle.
And you can be super, like, heavy with the sauce.
It's all good. - Oh, my gosh.
- The more the merrier. - It looks amazing!
- And then you're gonna take some of that Mexican crema.
So the way I drizzle is I take a spoon
and then I work, like, on a diagonal.
The fun part is, yeah, totally just, like,
adding the crema, right? - Ooh.
- And then you're gonna take some of those
beautiful sliced onions that you did
and just sprinkle them over the top
and over the sides.
And then take a handful of that cilantro
and just sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle.
That looks like something out of a restaurant, my friend.
You're doing so well. - Whoo!
- I know, you've gotta get a picture.
- And then you take some of those sesame seeds.
Do a nice sprinkle.
Just a little bit.
And then you don't have any edible flowers,
but I do, so I'm just gonna put them over the top--
- We do! We--you know what?
We do have edible flowers. - Oh, you do?
Okay, cool, cool! Bring them on!
- Let's do it. - Let's go restaurant-style.
Let's go chef-y.
- Oh, my gosh. These are beautiful.
- We take a picture and then we're digging in.
- Hi, honey. Would you like some of this?
- That's why I'm here. - Okay.
- They're cute!
How did you guys meet?
- Oh, my gosh. - Ah!
- 20 years ago when I was a culinary student,
I was 19 and I got into this sky bar
with a fake ID, and he's like,
"Who's that Mexican? I want to hang out with her."
- And we hung out for a couple years
and then I went back to Mexico, got married,
and he stayed in L.A. and he got married
and then we both got divorced, and 15 years later,
we got married. - Wow!
- We didn't get married. - We're not married yet.
- Wait, we're not married! We got back together.
- We just had a bunch of kids. - We just have kids
and dogs and houses, but we don't--we're not married.
- Wow. - Wow, I love it.
- And mole. - And mole.
We have mole--who needs a marriage license
when you have mole? - Exactly!
- Bon appétit. - Bon appétit.
- Let's get in there.
It's messy.
- Mmm! - Oh, my gosh.
- Oh, my God. - This is so delicious.
- I saw one episode where you were like,
"This is not good,"
so I know you're not shy about saying
when something isn't good.
- She's not. - No, I'm not.
This is incredible. - Oh, yay!
- Mmm, my God!
- Look at that.
- Mmm. - If we rate this one to five,
I'm gonna give myself a four
because I should've added more chicken.
- I would give it a five, but I agree with Selena.
We should have put a little bit more chicken.
But outside of that, it's perfect.
- Mmm! - This is why I do what I do.
- I wanted to know a little bit
about the charity organization that you work with.
- I work with this organization called "The MAAC Project."
And they look for kids
that are of Hispanic descent.
They have issues financially,
but they want to get into college.
And we help get them $1,000 scholarships
and get them into college.
- As a thank you to Marcela,
we are donating $10,000 to MAAC Project.
For more ways to support, please visit maacproject.org.
- Thank you so much.
I know they're incredibly grateful.
You're gonna be helping put
10 young men and women into college,
and that is massive.
- That's so cool. - That's amazing.
- You are awesome, thank you! God bless you guys.
- Thank you so much for letting us into your home
and for teaching us, and I'm so happy we did this.
- Good. You guys did such a good job.
You did such a good job! - Whoo!
Gracias, gracias.
- Adios. - Adios!
- Going back to seconds means it's good.
Wow!
- That is something bomb. - I know, that's amazing.
- It's actually crazy.
- This is literally unbelievable.
Whoa!