Salsa Sauce: Various Variations

There are many authentic and original dishes in Latin American cuisine. And so that these dishes not only please their beauty, but also give the eater an excellent taste, many works of culinary art are traditionally complemented by sauces. They are very different. The main thing is that they are well combined with treats. And if you are a fan of burning and vibrant tastes, then salsa sauce will be your best option. It is made from vegetables, adding hot chili. How to cook homemade salsa sauce with your own hands, in the kitchen - will be described in our next article.

A bit of history with geography

Many people think that salsa is an incendiary Latin American dance. Of course, this is so, but not only. In the same way, it is customary to call spicy sauce native to Mexico (or rather, from Mesoamerica, because we inherited it from the local inhabitants, Indians, and it has all and very ancient "pre-Columbian" roots). It can be used as a culinary addition to a variety of dishes, both local and worldwide. In Mexico, for example, where it has been made for a long time, salsa sauce is served with almost any product - fish, meat, vegetables, it is even combined with eggs. And besides, it’s easy to cook, and all the components can be easily purchased at every supermarket today.

Classic Salsa Sauce

It is also called “red” (salsa roja), as ripe tomatoes are used. To prepare it, we need the following ingredients: 5 medium-sized tomatoes, onion (it is better to take lilac for taste and color), 5 garlic cloves, hot pepper (chili) 5 pods (they are usually small in size), 2-3 tablespoons of lime juice ( lemon), fresh herbs, salt, ground black pepper. For people watching the figure: the calorie content of salsa sauce is low - 59 kcal / 100 grams. In addition, all products are natural, and chili and garlic are natural aliments. So you can safely eat it in large quantities (as, in fact, this is what many in Latin America do).

How to make salsa sauce

1. The first step is to wash the tomatoes and remove the stalks. Also, peel off the tomato. This will work best if you give them boiling water. Cut the vegetables in half, and clean the seeds. And then chop the tomatoes in small pieces.
2. Remove the husk from the purple onion and finely chop it into cubes.
3. We clean the garlic cloves and chop them with slices or skip them through the garlic press.
4. The pods of hot chili need to be thoroughly washed, and then cut the stems from them. And the seeds are also removed to avoid excessive bitterness. Cut the chilli into thin half rings or smaller pieces.
5. Getting started mixing salsa sauce. Put the vegetables in the bowl. Pour the mixture with lemon juice, you can drip and olive oil. Add salt with spices.
6. Rinse the greens with water and chop it finely. We spread it in a container with vegetables. Now it remains to mix the components well until a homogeneous structure (if you want, you can do this with a blender) and remove the sauce down the refrigerator, where it should brew for about an hour.
7. After that, ready-made seasoning can be used both for dressing various dishes, and for dipping bread products with and without filling, and as an independent meal. A freshly prepared salsa sauce can be stored for no more than a week.

Green salsa verde

Tomatillo - small green tomatoes are used to make this authentic sauce. We take them a pound. And also: 5 cloves of garlic, 100 grams of hot pepper (also green), 100 grams of olives (seedless), 2 onions (you can also take a bunch of green), lime, olive oil, cilantro, salt. It should also be noted that in different regions under this name there are various recipes. So, in Italy, anchovies and capers are added to salsa verde. But in this recipe we can do without these - indisputably, no less tasty - ingredients.

How to cook

1. We wash the green tomatoes thoroughly, dry them, wiping them with a kitchen towel (we do not need excess water).
2. Berries (yes, from the point of view of botany, the fruits of tomatoes are berries), cut into 2 parts, taking out the seeds and cutting the stalks.
3. Green peppers are washed and cut the stem, removing its seeds.
4. Peel the onion and cut into several parts.
5. Peel the garlic and chop it quite finely with a knife.
6. Rinse greens (feathers of onions with cilantro), dry. We chop.
7. Put all the prepared ingredients in a blender bowl, add the olives. Turn on the device and grind slightly. But try so that the mass does not acquire the consistency of sour cream, but is still with small pieces of components. If you do not have a blender in the kitchen, you can scroll through the mixture through a meat grinder.
8. Then put all the resulting mass in a deep bowl and add the juice of half a lime, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Salt, mix. We send down the refrigerator for a couple of hours - let it brew properly. Green salsa sauce is ready to eat. Usually it is served (or used for cooking) various dishes, including fish and meat, vegetables. Bon appetit to all!