If you’re looking to spice up your life, you should know you’re not alone. There are infinite ways to do so, but probably the easiest and fastest is to start by working on your beloved taste buds. How? Well, my personal way is to start my days with enchiladas or chilaquiles, for now, we’ll talk about one of the things these dishes have in common, spicy salsa.
It's usually hard to find a good taqueria when you're not in Mexico. So, here are a couple of recipes for your DIY Mexican salsa. There are infinite ways to prepare proper green and red salsa, but here are a couple of easy and tasty options:
This is what you need to make red salsa (you can choose whatever dry chili and fresh chili you can find and you can use more or less depending on how spicy you want it):
- 2 tomatoes
- 3 pieces of garlic
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 ancho chillies
- 2 jalapeño chillies
- 2 guajillo chillies
- 1/2 lime
- Salt and pepper to taste Pinch of cumin
- Cilantro to taste (I usually use a handful)
- Water to taste (use the one that’s left from boiling)
How? So, just boil the tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt, and all the chiles until everything is soft like a marshmallow. Then, blend with all the other ingredients except for the cilantro, which you will chop and add once you put the salsa in your final bowl. Finally, squeeze the lime and mix.
Check if salt is good, add more if needed. You’re good to go. So now lets go for green salsa, you need (again, use as much chillies as you need):
- 8 tomatillos
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 3 pieces of garlic
- 5 jalapeño chillies
- 1/2 lime
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cilantro to taste (I usually use a handful)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 avocado
- Water to taste (use less if you’re into the creamy version)
So, in this case, it's not a boiled salsa but a salsa tatemada (yes, burnt). Just follow these easy steps:
Put the tomatillos, garlic, onion, and chiles in a pan or grill and let them burn, really burn. Stir the ingredients occasionally, and when everything looks ready (again, burnt), put them in the blender with the rest of the ingredients except for the lime, which comes freshly squeezed at the end. Add salt if needed, and you're ready to fly.
With these two salsas eat the best food in Mexico City from the confort of your house. Try these salsas with our easy Tacos al pastor recipe.
Enjoy!
