I am going to give you my fresh Mexican salsa recipe in 3 ways...My way...Restaurant style and Pico de gallo style. When I use to lived in San Angelo Texas, my neighbor a beautiful lady descendant from native American Indian and Mexican parents, who did all things from scratch at home teach me this one and how to make tortillas, the real thing...and believe me once you try this you never want to go back to store bought ones! Pungent garlic, earthy cilantro, spicy jalapenos and sweet tomatoes, adds up to a complex beautifully balanced sauce. This salsa can be made winter or summer, with either fresh or canned tomatoes. You will love the fresh flavor, and will make a hit for your summer get together, and ooooh easy !!
You’ll never again buy flavorless jarred salsa!
First, let me give you a few tips:
When you saute the diced onion and garlic, do it for only 10 seconds. If you saute much longer, the onion will become very sweet and alter the salsa’s flavor
Very ripe meaty tomato is the best choice for salsa, but you can use canned diced tomatoes for a fast approach
fresh tomatoes that are ripe but still firm are best for my fresh pico de gallo salsa recipe
For salsa, use a ratio of one hot pepper to three large tomatoes. But of course all depends on your spiciness taste, I always buy 3 big jalapenos and use one, taste and keep adding as needed, I use the seeds as I love HOT, but you can turn it down by taking the seeds out
Add a pinch of sugar or a little of tomato paste for sweeter salsa
Use cold with chips or serve warm salsa over hot food white rice and grilled meats or over boiled eggs or any hot food you want to spice up, you can even use it as a sofrito or based to make beans or red Spanish rice!!
Remember to make your salsa smooth restaurant style, blend sauteed onion and garlic with tomatoes before simmering
Cumin is optional in Authentic Mexican Salsa. Try the cumin for delicious Tex-Mex flavor
***If you are in a hurry and you want your salsa thick simmer longer...if not just simmer as the recipe indicates and let the juices get to desired consistency getting cold in the fridge.
Ingredients for Restaurant style salsa
6-8 large Roma tomatoes (2 Lbs) OR 2-14.5 ounce cans whole tomatoes, drained
2 small or 1 medium onion(s), diced
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2-3 Jalapenos (see tips)
small green pepper diced
1/2-1 cup (a handful or two) fresh cilantro leaves, to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
ground pepper, to taste
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
juice of one lemon or lime, optional
If you have canned tomatoes, skip to step 3. If you have fresh tomatoes, add ½ inch of water to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Core and halve tomatoes and set them, cut side up, in the skillet.
While you dice the onions, simmer tomatoes until water evaporates and tomatoes start to soften. Peel and discard any skins that have loosened during steaming.
Toss tomatoes, hot peppers and cilantro into a blender container. Blend until smooth.
Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onions and garlic and green pepper in hot oil for about 10 seconds; just a flash in the pan.
Add blended tomato mixture to the skillet with the onions and garlic and give it a stir.
Season with salt and ground pepper to taste. Add cumin if desired.
Simmer on medium-low for about 15 minutes, or until salsa has reduced and thickened. You may need to increase cook time if tomatoes are very juicy.
You can add the juice of a fresh lime or lemon at this point, although it's not necessary and will temper the salsa's spiciness.
Serve with tortilla chips, enchiladas, tacos, scrambled eggs, quesadillas, etc.
Store salsa in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a week; store in the freezer for up to one year.
Makes about 3 cups of homemade salsa
My own chunky summer salsa version
I love the pungent flavors of the raw pico de gallo salsa and the liquefy sauce of the restaurant style, so i make mine a mixture of both like this...
1. Use canned diced tomatoes
2. Diced all your ingredients except for the tomatoes of course.....as you will for pico de gallo
3. Don't put them in the blender !!!
4. Do though saute the garlic, diced green pepper and onions for 10 seconds to extract flavor (follow number 4 instructions)
5. Either follow the instructions from 5 to 8 as in the recipe but reduce the time from 15 minutes to 5 minutes on the stove to keep some of the raw flavor of the ingredients....making it taste like fresh pico de gallo in a juicy base like salsa. (you can instead of use the stove, use a microwaveable bowl and put all the ingredients mix in and heat on high for 3 minutes stop and stir, check the flavors and ad as needed, if needs more salt, hot or you want to add lime this is the time, return to microwave for 3 more minutes.)
Retired to the fridge and let it get as cold as you want!
Now lets do some Fresh Pico de Gallo
Fresh Pico de Gallo My tips for pico de gallo:
Used 3 colors in your recipe red ,yellow or orange and green bell peppers
Try to find Key limes (also called Mexican or West Indian limes) it makes the sauce more tangy.
Vidalia onions are the best for this raw recipe of salsa, because they are sweeter
Use fresh firm tomatoes with this recipe Seed half the tomatoes so the pico doesn't drown in its own juices
To keep pico de gallo fresh , chop all veggies and store them in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use. Add lime juice, oil and salt just before serving.
Ingridients for Fresh Pico de Gallo 2 lbs. tomatoes, ripe but firm 1/4 cup green onion, minced 1/2 cup Vidalia onions, chopped finely 1/2-3/4 cup cilantro, chopped 1-2 jalapenos (to taste), finely minced 4-5 Key limes 1-2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (optional) 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil Instructions Slice tomatoes in half. Remove seeds from about half of the tomatoes. Chop as seen below. I prefer to finely chop the tomatoes, so the tomato chunks are slightly larger than the other diced ingredients. Pour them into a large mixing bowl. Dice the green onion, Vidalia onion, and cilantro. Finely mince the hot peppers. Combine with the tomatoes. Add pressed garlic cloves to the salsa. Using a lime juicer, squeeze the juice of two limes into the salsa. Taste before adding the rest of the lime juice. Sprinkle with salt; drizzle with olive oil. Stir well. Serve with tortilla chips or your favorite meal. Now go and enjoy summer!!!
