Put 2 quarts water into a pan, add the onion, garlic, and salt, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and continue simmering until just tender, not soft about 25 minutes. Drain the chicken, reserving the broth. Measure the broth and reduce or add water to make 7 cups.

Cover the tomatoes with water in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, and cook about 10 minutes until soft, taking care not to let them burst open. Drain, puree in a blender, and set aside.

Heat a little of the lard in a skillet and fry the raisins, almonds, garlic, onion, plantain, and challah one by one, until browned, draining each one in a strainer to rid it of excess fat. Add a little more lard or oil only when necessary. Toss the sesame seeds in the hot pan until a deep golden brown (sprinkle them with salt if they begin to pop around too much or jump out of the pan).

Put 1 cup of the chicken broth into a blender, add the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and parsley, and blend, adding the sesame seeds little by little. The mixture should be fairly smooth. Add a second cup of the broth and continue blending the fried ingredients, stopping the blender from time to time to loosen the ingredients that tend to form a solid mass at the bottom of the blender. Add another 2-1/2 to 3 cups of broth, which will probably be necessary to prevent your blender from burning out. Blend until fairly smooth; you do not want it to look like gruel.

Heat 3 tablespoons of lard or oil in a heavy flameproof pan in which you are going to cook the almendrado. Add the blended ingredients, then stir and scrape the bottom of the pan immediately, since the raisins in the mixture tend to scorch very quickly. Cook for 5 minutes, adding a little more fat if necessary. Add the tomato puree and continue cooking and scraping the bottom of the pan until the mixture has reduced and thickened and is well seasoned, about 8 minutes. Add the remaining broth and cook for another 10 minutes. By then the sauce should be of medium thickness and lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. Decorate with the olives and almonds and serve the chiles separately.