I'm sure you all are wondering how this New Mexican makes her salsa, right? Well, I never make it the same way twice and I don't measure so I can't give a recipe. But I thought I'd share with you how I make it in case you want to give it a go.
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| The salt, sugar, and garlic powder are missing in this picture, sorry. |
1 can no-salt diced tomatoes
Fresh cherry tomatoes
1/2 bunch cilantro
lime juice (about 2-3 tsp.)
dash of salt (more if needed)
garlic powder
taco seasoning (link here)
green chiles or green chile powder
hot chile sauce (optional)
sugar (if needed)
TOMATO BASE: For my tomatoes I typically start with a can of petite diced tomatoes, I don't care what brand because I'm going to make it taste good anyway. I prefer no salt or low salt, but honestly, I'll just buy what is on sale. If have fresh tomatoes, especially grape or cherry, I'll use those. Homemade canned tomatoes work too. If I don't have fresh tomatoes, I still make the salsa, but it usually isn't as good.
SEASONINGS: For my herbs I use cilantro, taco seasoning, and garlic. I like to use fresh cilantro, but sometimes I don't have it on hand. So I use dried cilantro that I've dried myself in my oven. When cilantro is on sale, I'll buy a few bunches and place them on a cooling rack and put the rack in a baking pan and dry them at 140 degrees. Usually takes just a few hours, but I usually do it over night.
For the garlic I usually just use powder. I've never used fresh garlic so I don't know how that would go.
Cumin is a popular New Mexico seasoning. Sometimes I throw that in. My favorite way to season is with taco seasoning. I used to buy it in Las Cruces, but they don't make it anymore. Thankfully my good friend figured out the recipe. LINK HERE
HEAT: Usually my heat comes from roasted, peeled, chopped Hatch chiles. I like to buy 505 from Costco. You can usually buy Hatch chiles at your grocery store. If you'd rather do jalapenos or anaheim, go ahead, just don't you dare call it New Mexico salsa.
If I don't have green chiles on hand, I use green chile powder. I buy this when I'm Las Cruces. I love this stuff. Sometimes I'll even add it to my salsa even when adding roasted chiles. It goes in a lot of my New Mexico dishes. I think you can buy it online, if so, I'll put the link below.
Another form of heat that I'll sometimes add is New Mexico red chile powder or sauce. Depends on who I know who my guests will be and if they can handle the heat. I think it adds another layer of flavor to the salsa.
ACID: The tomatoes already provide acid, but I like to add lime juice to my salsa too for a lighter citrus flavor. I buy my lime juice in large bottles at Mexican grocery stores. I add lime juice to a lot of my dishes so I go through it pretty quickly.
SALT: One of the reasons why I don't like to buy my tomatoes with salt is that I can adjust the salt they way I like it. I use REAL salt from the Great Salt Lake. It has a really nice flavor to it.
SWEET: To help counter the acidity of the tomatoes, sometimes I'll add a dash of sugar, sometimes I forget to. I can never taste the sweetness in the salsa, but I can tell if I forgot it. It just tastes "off" when I leave it out.
I put all my ingredients in my nutribullet and pulse it. I don't want it to run too long because I want there to be a little bit of chunkiness to my salsa. If I let it go too long, it turns more into a puree. I then taste to see if it needs more salt or sugar. If it's too salty, I add more lime juice.
This salsa is best served fresh. I rarely have any left over, but it doesn't keep well if it has fresh cilantro in it. If you don't think you'll be eating all the salsa in a day, I'd leave the cilantro out or use dried cilantro.
This salsa is good for:
Chile con queso
Tostada Compuestas
Fish tacos
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