SIx String Chef
Ambassador of Taste
I made a quick street taco stand-type salsa yesterday, to make use of some of my backyard garden's harvest... and just by the simplicity (and tastiness) of it, I thought this would give me a good chance to share the recipe with you guys.
I'm sure we all have something like that in our home cooking repertoire so, I'm starting this thread in The Kitchen, so that we all can share simple, quick(ish) and tasty recipes/hacks from our respective kitchens.
To start it off, here goes the poor man's guac-a-like taco salsa I mentioned above. Got this from frequenting taco stands in my old mexican hometown for years and years and chatting up the taqueros to get their secrets. It's a staple in NE Mexico street taco stands, especially for al pastor tacos. It's as traditional and authentic as it gets:
Ingredients (basic version):
- Raw green hot chile peppers (Serrano, Jalapeno, Finger or any other as hot or mild as you like)
- A few garlic cloves (fresh and raw). DO not use the canned / jarred garlic they sell in some stores.
- Cooking oil (any veg oil will do, safflower, canola, corn, even olive)
- Salt
Optionals:
-Some fresh cilantro
-Onion
-Tomatillos
-Avocados
Cream (sour, regular, heavy)
1. Boil some water in a sauce pan or pot.
2. Throw in the chiles in the pot and let them cook for a good 20 minutes or until they change color to a dark olive green (that means they're fully cooked). Save some water for next step.
3. Throw into a blender the peppers, garlic, salt, and any/all of the optionals together with a little of the water where you cooked the chile peppers. Puree on high speed (make sure to cover the lid with a towel or rag and hold it before hitting the puree button).
4. With the blender running, pour through the lid hole a stream of veg oil slowly into the blender jar. You'll see how the salsa starts taking a smooth apperance and uniform lighter color, almost like guacamole. Stop pouring and let it run for a little more so it's all uniform in texture and color.
5. season with salt to taste.
NOTES:
- I do not give quantities, because it's really more of a "feel" thing. But a good place to start would be, for about a handful of chiles, 2 or 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup of cooking water, 1/4 cup of veg oil and as much as you like or not of the optionals. Preferably to put small quantities and then adding to get to the right spot, than overdoing an ingredient and not being able to tone it down.
- This salsa will end up as hot or mild as the combo of chiles you put in... I recommend tasting the chiles for heat prior to making the salsa.
- Salsas in Mexico are usually salted more than you would expect, because they are intended to also season the taco. I would recommend to oversalt it just a little beyond what you're used to, to get the full effect but that's just me. Season and adjust to your liking.
And there you go: Quick, Simple, Tasty! Now it's your turn... let's see what you got!
I'm sure we all have something like that in our home cooking repertoire so, I'm starting this thread in The Kitchen, so that we all can share simple, quick(ish) and tasty recipes/hacks from our respective kitchens.
To start it off, here goes the poor man's guac-a-like taco salsa I mentioned above. Got this from frequenting taco stands in my old mexican hometown for years and years and chatting up the taqueros to get their secrets. It's a staple in NE Mexico street taco stands, especially for al pastor tacos. It's as traditional and authentic as it gets:
Ingredients (basic version):
- Raw green hot chile peppers (Serrano, Jalapeno, Finger or any other as hot or mild as you like)
- A few garlic cloves (fresh and raw). DO not use the canned / jarred garlic they sell in some stores.
- Cooking oil (any veg oil will do, safflower, canola, corn, even olive)
- Salt
Optionals:
-Some fresh cilantro
-Onion
-Tomatillos
-Avocados
Cream (sour, regular, heavy)
1. Boil some water in a sauce pan or pot.
2. Throw in the chiles in the pot and let them cook for a good 20 minutes or until they change color to a dark olive green (that means they're fully cooked). Save some water for next step.
3. Throw into a blender the peppers, garlic, salt, and any/all of the optionals together with a little of the water where you cooked the chile peppers. Puree on high speed (make sure to cover the lid with a towel or rag and hold it before hitting the puree button).
4. With the blender running, pour through the lid hole a stream of veg oil slowly into the blender jar. You'll see how the salsa starts taking a smooth apperance and uniform lighter color, almost like guacamole. Stop pouring and let it run for a little more so it's all uniform in texture and color.
5. season with salt to taste.
NOTES:
- I do not give quantities, because it's really more of a "feel" thing. But a good place to start would be, for about a handful of chiles, 2 or 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup of cooking water, 1/4 cup of veg oil and as much as you like or not of the optionals. Preferably to put small quantities and then adding to get to the right spot, than overdoing an ingredient and not being able to tone it down.
- This salsa will end up as hot or mild as the combo of chiles you put in... I recommend tasting the chiles for heat prior to making the salsa.
- Salsas in Mexico are usually salted more than you would expect, because they are intended to also season the taco. I would recommend to oversalt it just a little beyond what you're used to, to get the full effect but that's just me. Season and adjust to your liking.
And there you go: Quick, Simple, Tasty! Now it's your turn... let's see what you got!
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