Holy Mole Chicken Chili

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large bell pepper (any color that floats your boat), finely chopped
• 1 poblano pepper, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 canned chipotle pepper (in adobo sauce), chopped, plus more to increase spiciness to taste
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from the canned chipotles)
• 28 ounces can diced tomatoes, with their juices
• 8 ounces malty beer (drink the rest as you cook)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 3-inch long pieces of orange peel, peeled off with a vegetable peeler (so, no pith on them)
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 ounce finely chopped unsweetened chocolate, plus more to taste
• salt and pepper
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2-3 limes
• chopped cilantro, for serving
• fried corn tortilla strips (or corn chips) for serving

1. In a rather large pot, heat 2 Tbs. olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Stir in the onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, bell pepper, poblano pepper, and jalapeno pepper, and cook, stirring, until softened, another 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook for about 1 minute to toast the spices.
2. Add the butternut squash and stir to coat it with the spices. Stir in the chipotle, adobo, canned tomato, beer, cinnamon stick and orange peel. Add a couple tsp. of salt. Stir and cover. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook, covered, until the butternut squash is tender, mine took around 30 minutes.
3. In the meantime, heat the remaining olive oil in a large frying pan set over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken pieces in batches and set aside.
4. When the squash is tender, stir in the chicken and simmer just long enough to cook the chicken through, several minutes. Stir in the unsweetened chocolate plus more salt and pepper to taste. You can fish the cinnamon stick and orange peel out if you want, or just leave them for people to discover in their bowl as a fun surprise.
5. Blend together the avocado with the sour cream, a pinch of salt, and the juice of half a lime (you can just mash it well with a fork if you don't want to bother with a blender/food processor). Cut the remaining limes and lime half into wedges. Serve the chili warm with the avocado cream to dollop on top (plus additional sour cream, if you'd like), lime wedges for squeezing over, and cilantro and tortilla strips for sprinkling. This is definitely a one pot meal - who needs to even bother with a salad?

olive oil, yellow onion, garlic, bell pepper, pepper, pepper, chili powder, ground cumin, oregano, butternut squash, pepper, adobo sauce, tomatoes, cinnamon, orange peel, chicken, unsweetened chocolate, salt, avocado, sour cream, limes, cilantro, tortilla strips

Taken from food52.com/recipes/15924-holy-mole-chicken-chili (may not work)