Salsa Recipes

Hot Sauces and Salsas

Salsa de Chipotle
Chipotles en Adobo
Salsa Roja
Salsa Verde
Salsa Fresca
Apricot 'n Habanero Salsa
Salsa de Chile Arbol
Rich's Holy Habanero Hot Sauce

Salsa de Chipotle

2.0 - dried chipotle chiles
6.0 - fresh tomatillos
1.0 - clove garlic
0.25 - medium onion, minced
0.25 cup - cilantro, coarsely chopped
as needed - red wine vinegar
Toast chiles on a hot comal until crisp but not burned and set aside. Place tomatillos and garlic on the comal and toast, turning often, until the husks are brown and the flesh is soft. Crumble the chiles into a molcajete and grind to a coarse powder. Peel and add the garlic clove and grind into a paste. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and discard. Cut the tomatillos into quarters. Add a few pieces of tomatillo to the molcajete and blend well before adding more. Continue until all the tomatillos have been blended into the chile/garlic paste. Blend in half the cilantro and add red wine vinegar as needed until the mixture achieves a thick table sauce consistency. Sprinkle other half of cilantro over the sauce just before serving. Serve as a dip for tostaditas or a table sauce for tostadas, tacos, burritos, frijoles, whatever...

Chipotles en Adobo

Not your typical tomato and onion based adobo sauce, my adobo sauce has a more complex blend of spices and flavorings. It's particularly suitable for use in BBQ sauce and marinades.

15 - chipotle chiles
3 - dried ancho chiles
2 - dried New Mexico chiles
2 - roma tomatoes
5 - cloves of garlic
0.5 - onion, finely chopped
0.5 teaspoon - ground thyme
0.5 teaspoon - ground cumin
1 teaspoon - crushed Mexican oregano
0.25 teaspoon - ground cloves
0.5 teaspoon - ground cinnamon
0.5 cup - apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon - olive oil
0.25 cup (packed) - brown sugar
1.5 teaspoon - coarse salt
0.5 teaspoon - coarse ground black pepper
as needed - water for soaking the dried chiles
On a hot comal, lightly toast the chiles, a few at a time, on each side until slightly softened -- don't toast until crisp. Tear the ancho and New Mexico chiles into large pieces (shake out and discard the seeds if desired), place ALL of the chiles in a container, cover with water, and soak for about 30 minutes. Drain the chiles, reserving the soaking liquid. Set aside 12 of the chipotles. Toast the cloves of garlic, unpeeled, on the comal. Coarsely chop 3 of the garlic cloves and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Crush with the tines of a dinner fork until well mashed. Slice the remaining 2 cloves of garlic lengthwise into thin slices.

Char the tomatoes on a hot comal, peel, remove and discard the seeds, and chop. Place the soaked ancho chiles, New Mexico chiles, 3 of the chipotles, and the chopped tomatoes in a blender and puree, adding some of the soaking water as needed. Sauté onions in the olive oil over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the crushed and sliced garlic and sauté for a minute or two more. Add the chile/tomato puree, the reserved chipotles, and remaining ingredients to the onions and garlic. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 1 hour, adding soaking water as needed to prevent the sauce from burning or becoming too thick. Cool and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 or 3 months.

Salsa Roja

1 - 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 - dried ancho chiles
3 - dried New Mexico chiles
1 - dried chipotle chile
1/2 - onion, chopped
2 - cloves garlic
1 tablespoon - coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon - ground cumin
1 teaspoon - crushed Mexican oregano
1 tablespoon - peanut oil
On a hot comal, lightly toast the chiles until slightly softened -- don't toast until crisp. Tear the ancho and New Mexico chiles into large pieces, shaking out and discarding the seeds. Place ALL of the chiles in a container, cover with water, and soak for about 30 minutes. Drain the chiles, reserving the soaking liquid. Dice the garlic cloves, sprinkle with the coarse salt, and crush with the tines of a dinner fork until well mashed. Sauté the garlic and onions in peanut oil. Stir in about 1/4 cup of the chile-soaking water and then pour into a blender. Add the chiles to the blender, thoroughly puree, adding a bit more of the soaking water if necessary. Pour into a sauce pan. Add tomato paste, spices, and rest of the soaking water. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the sauce is thickened as desired.

Salsa Verde

12 - tomatillos
6 - serrano chiles
1/2 - onion, washed but unpeeled
2 - cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/4 teaspoon - ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon - sugar
5 or 6 sprigs - cilantro
1 tablespoon - corn oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Toast tomatillas, chiles, onion and garlic on a hot comal. Set aside to cool. When the tomatillos are cool enough to handle, remove the husks, cut into quarters and place in a sauce pan. Cover with water, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until tomatillos are soft (about 15 to 20 minutes). Chop chiles. Peel and chop onion and garlic. Add chiles, onion, garlic, cilantro, tomatillos, and cooking water to blender. Puree until smooth. Heat oil in a sauté pan, add puree and spices. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened as desired. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa Fresca

2.0 - mild green chiles (such as Anaheim or poblano), chopped
2.0 - jalapeno chiles, finely diced
1.0 - serrano chile, thinly sliced
2.0 - tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1.0 - onion, chopped
1.0 - clove garlic
1.0 teaspoon - coarse salt (I use Margarita salt)
0.5 teaspoon - coarse black pepper
1.0 tablespoon - red wine vinegar
Mix all ingredients except garlic together in a glass bowl. Peel garlic and finely dice. Sprinkle with coarse salt and mash with the back of a dinner fork and blend into other ingredients. Refrigerate for an hour or so to allow flavors to blend. Serve with tostaditas or as a salsa for tacos, tostadas, burritos, whatever...

Apricot 'n Habanero Salsa

Apricots always come to mind when I try to describe the fairly complex favor of habanero chiles...so, the combination of apricots and habaneros seemed to be a natural. The following recipe uses apricot jam, but fresh apricots could be used with the addition of sugar or some other form of sweetener as desired.

1.0 cup - apricot jam
2.0 - habanero chiles
0.25 - medium sized white onion
1.0 - clove of garlic
1.0 - teaspoon coarse salt
2.0 tablespoon - white wine vinegar
0.5 teaspoon - crushed dried red chiles
0.5 teaspoon - ground cumin
pinch - ground nutmeg
Place the apricot jam in a bowl and stir in white wine vinegar. Finely dice the habanero chiles, finely chop the onion, and add both to the bowl. Dice the garlic, sprinkle with the coarse salt, and thoroughly mash with the tines of a dinner fork. Add garlic and spices to the bowl and stir until well mixed and smooth. Refrigerate for an hour or so to allow flavors to blend. Use as a salsa for chicken, fish, or pork...or stir into softened cream cheese to spread on crackers, thinly sliced pieces of read baked until crisp...or pita bread cut into wedges, brushed with olive oil, and broiled until crisp and golden brown.

Salsa de Chile Arbol

1/2 cup oil
10 chiles arbol
2 tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
red wine vinegar, or other vinegar per individual taste, as needed
Heat the oil in a small cast iron pan and fry the chiles in it until they are a deep, burnished red. Remove to paper towels and blot off oil. While the chiles are cooling, broil the tomatoes and garlic about 10 minutes, turning once. Remove skin from tomatoes and peel garlic. stem chiles and break pods into pieces. Place the tomatoes, garlic, tomato sauce, salt and chiles in a blender or food processor and process until chiles are broken up into small, dark flecks. Stir in red wine vinegar as needed to bring sauce to desired consistency.

Rich's Holy Habanero Hot Sauce

The following is more of a method than recipe, so the amounts of the ingredients can vary and will depend on the number of fresh habanero chiles on hand. Warming! Habanero chiles are hot and so is this sauce, it is not meant for non-chileheads.

habanero chiles
coarse salt
white vinegar
Wash, de-stem, and coarsely chop the habanero chiles. Using an appropriate sized glass jar, spread a layer (about one half inch thick) on the bottom of the jar and sprinkle generously with coarse salt. Add another similar layer of chopped habaneros and salt and continue in this manner until all the chopped chiles have been placed in the jar.

Cover the jar with a piece of folded cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band. Set the jar aside in a cool place for a few days to allow the habaneros to release some of their juice. When a significant amount of juice has formed in the jar (the chiles and liquid might even begin to ferment and bubble a bit), pour white vinegar over the chiles and secure the cheesecloth in place with the rubber band. Set aside as before for a few more days, gently shaking each day to stir up the chile/salt/vinegar mixture.

Pour the contents of the jar into a blender and puree until pretty well liquefied. Strain the liquid into a jar through a fine sieve, pressing against the sieve with a spoon to force as much pulp through as possible. Set the liquid in a refrigerator where it will be least disturbed until a layer of clear vinegar forms. Gently pour off the clear liquid and reserve. Repeat this process until no more vinegar can be poured off.

Note #1: The above results in a pure habanero hot sauce that might be a bit too salty and vinegary for some tastes. The amount of salt can be varied...as well as the ingredients. The addition of chopped onions, diced garlic, chopped carrots, and other ingredients per one's imagination can result in subtle to definitely noticeable changes in flavor. Experiment to your heart's (or other various innards) content...

Note #2: The habanero flavored vinegar that is poured off and reserved can be used in place of wine or cider vinegar when a bit more heat is desired in such things as salsas and hot sauces. The pulp left in the sieve can be dehydrated and used as is or mixed with other spices or added to crushed dried red chiles to add subtle variations in taste...I don't waste a thing, especially when it comes to chiles.

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