The best friend of the tortilla chip is salsa. Usually found in red or green and ranging from mild to insanely hot, salsa has found its way to every party's snack table.
Salsa in Spanish means sauce, but in English it calls to mind the spicy tomato sauces usually used as a dip and sometimes as a garnish. Although salsa can be just about any color, you will most likely be eating red salsa. Here is a good basic recipe for red salsa.
Red Salsa Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups chopped tomatoes. You can use canned if you like, just drain the water.
- 2 Anaheim chilies
- 3 Jalapeno peppers, chopped
- 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Using your stovetop, roast the Anaheim chilies until the skins turn black.
- Wrap the chilies in plastic wrap and wait until they are cooled.
- Then, remove the charred skins by brushing them from the chilies and rough chop them.
- Put the tomatoes, cilantro, Jalapenos, and Anaheim chilies into a food processor and pulse until smooth.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
For a chunkier salsa, either do not process it so much or hold some of the chopped tomatoes aside and add it after the salsa is pureed.
Green Salsa Recipe
For a green salsa you will need:
Ingredients
- 12 ounces tomatillos, remove the husks
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 Serrano chili, chopped
- 1 crushed garlic clove
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon of sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Simmer the tomatillos in water for 10 minutes.
- Save the water. Put the tomatillos and the other ingredients into your food processor and puree them until smooth.
- If you want a smoother or thinner salsa, add the saved water slowly as you pulse the salsa.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Colorful Salsa Recipe
Of course, you may not want to settle for simply red or green salsa unless it's Christmas. If you like your salsa to be more colorful, try this one:
- 3 cups cooked black beans
- 1 large mango, diced
- 1/4 red onion, diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
- 1 Jalapeno, seeded and chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all this together in a bowl with your hands. Eat.
In the Chips
If you are so inclined, you can make your own chips by heating up some vegetable oil and dropping in corn tortillas that have been cut into eighths pie-style so that they have the traditional triangle shaped. Otherwise, these salsas are great with any chip you happen to have, or you can top a nice taco or tamale with them.
Cooking Tips and Tricks
For a hotter salsa, add more Jalapeno peppers and make sure that you include the seeds and ribs of the peppers. For a milder salsa, remove both the seeds and the ribs of the peppers. The ribs are the white part of the pepper that holds the seeds and these are the parts that pack most of the heat.
