This easy to make sauce has a deliciously rich, not-too-hot chilli and nut taste. It is very versatile, going well with cachapas and tacos, being used in marinades for all sorts of Mexican fish dishes, and it's also lovely for baking veg like pumpkin or sweet potato (mix a dessert spoon of it with a couple of table spoons of extra virgin olive oil and coat chunks of the vegetables with it before putting in the oven). Nik even puts it in the cheese sandwiches he bring to work for his breakfast…

100g dried Mulato chillies

25g dried Pasilla chillies

10g each raw cashews nuts, blanched almonds, shelled hazelnuts and raw shelled peanuts

10g sesame seeds

1 medium sized onion, roughly chopped

10g dried apricot, roughly chopped

1 pinch ground cinnamon

1 pinch ground allspice

50mls ground nut oil

500mls chicken stock or half and half chicken stock and vegetable nage

20g dark brown sugar

10g caster sugar

40g 80% dark brown chocolate, roughly chopped

• Heat a frying pan on a high heat. Add the chillies and toast them - you want them toasted just enough for them to soften and bend, become fragrant and slightly darken. Aim for 10-20 seconds each side. Take extra care not to burn the chillies, as it will taint the mole. Put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them soak for 30 minutes – if they float to the surface, weight them down with a cup or a bowl so they’re fully submerged. Once they’re soft, removed and de-seed. Retain the water

• Toast the nuts till they are lightly browned, set aside

• Toast the sesame seeds till they are lightly browned. Put them, the nuts, chillies, onion, apricot, cinnamon and allspice blender and blitz to a smooth paste. If it seems a tad dry, put a little splash of the chilli water in

• Heat the ground nut oil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over a low heat, then add the paste from the blender. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure it isn’t sticking

• Add the stock(s) bring to a low boil, then simmer lightly for two hours, stirring every now and then. Then add the sugars and the chocolate and simmer for a further 30 minutes

• Allow to cool, put it in a jar with a tight lid and refrigerate; it will keep for up to a month