-Submitted by Dahlia
(Quick Basic Homemade Salsa, Mexican Pico de Gallo, Salsa Fresca, Homemade Chunky Salsa)
Salsa refers to a Mexican style sauce with tomato as its main ingredient. Typical salsas usually include other ingredients like onions, chilies and cilantro. The tomatoes added can be fresh or cooked. When salsa is made with fresh tomatoes, it is known as raw salsa or Mexican fresh sauce. In Mexico, it is known by various names such as Salsa Fresca, Salsa Picada, Salsa Bandera, Salsa Cruda or Salsa Mexicana.
The spice level of salsa can be varied according to personal taste. These days salsa is available in jars in supermarkets with spice levels ranging from mild to hot. As I always say, why bother to buy the stored ones if it can be made fresh very easily. Fresh one taste a lot better than the jarred ones and is much cheaper too.
Salsa is also made with various other ingredients such as pineapple, mango, black bean, corn, tomatillo etc. For today, let us learn to prepare the basic fresh tomato salsa at home.
Recipe FOr Fresh Tomato Salsa
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: NIL
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- Tomatoes – 4-5 medium sized (chopped)
- Onion – 1 small (finely chopped)
- Garlic – 4-5 cloves (finely chopped)
- Jalapeno (or green chili) – 1 (finely chopped)
- Coriander Leaves (Cilantro) – couple of handfuls (finely chopped)
- Lime juice – 1 tbsp
- Salt – ½ tsp
Method
- Chop all the ingredients finely by hand or with a food processor. You can deseed the green chili to reduce the spice level. Some people also prefer to deseed the tomatoes before chopping. It’s up to you.
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving for the flavors to blend well. You can even make it the previous day and refrigerate for best results.
Serving Suggestion
- This is served with tortilla chips as an appetizer. It is also used in almost all Mexican dishes like tacos, burritos, chimichanga, tostadas, quesadillas etc.
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