(Mis)adventures in veggie enchiladas

Folks, let me be frank. I'm in no place to judge this recipe because I've never actually eaten mole sauce (am I missing out on something incredible? Does this need to be immediately remedied?). Second, I made some unsanctioned substitutions. But I did end up with some edible enchiladas, so I will share my adventure!

I started off trying to replicate this recipe for enchiladas and mole sauce. Let's begin with the sauce. Like I said, I had no idea what the end product should taste like, but it became obvious that something was wrong, and my roommate's taste-testing confirmed this. My substitution was cocoa powder for Mexican chocolate, which may have made a difference in the overall consistency and quality, but the major flaw was that I used Indian chili powder. This IS NOT this same as mild chili powder (which I now see that the authors specified) that you find in American grocery stores. So my sauce ended up being wayyyyy to spicy. But. There is always hope (unless you burn the spices. then there is not hope). I added a 28oz. can of whole, peeled tomatoes and about a half cup of the mole sauce together, and it was much better (but still spicy!). I put the leftover mole sauce in a jar in my freezer, which I can hopefully utilize in other Mexican or Indian recipes.

For the actual enchiladas, I pretty much followed the recipe, except I used less cheese, no pine nuts, and I added sauteed zucchini to the enchiladas. I also topped with black beans for extra protein.

So ultimately, I can't really say I made mole sauce. I made something resembling enchilada sauce and veggie enchiladas. Onwards!