National Salsa Month | Salsa Recipes

The word salsa means sauce in Spanish. If your only experience with salsa is just the little bowl of red salsa you get with chips at a Mexican restaurant you may be surprised at the wide variety of recipes you'll find in this lens.

Most salsas have the main ingredient of chiles, but add in fruit, avocado, beans, corn or other ingredients and you have a delicious salsa to use with everything from chips to fish, meat, to your favorite Mexican dish.



Buy From Art.com


Authentic Mexican salsas at MexGrocer.com
Use Coupon Code "mexrecipe" at checkout and save 20% instantly on your order!

Salsas take only minutes to prepare. Most do not need cooking. You simply chop up your ingredients, and let the flavors blend for a while before serving.

Salsa Making Tips:

Refrigerate salsas unless you are serving them. Remember, they are made with fresh ingredients and no preservatives.

Roma, or plum tomatoes are most often called for in salsa recipes.

Can you use canned ingredients? Sure you can! When tomatoes are not in season use high quality canned ones. Keep some canned tomatoes, beans and peppers on hand so you can make salsa when you need it.

Handling peppers - Take care when preparing fresh chile peppers. You might want to wear gloves. Wash your hands after handling peppers and don't rub your eyes.

This recipe for salsa uses fresh ingredients and takes only minutes to prepare.

Ingredients

2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 small jalapeno pepper, diced
1/3 cup onion, diced
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs fresh lime juice
3 tbs fresh cilantro, diced

Directions - Mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes about one cup. Double for more.

This salsa goes well with fish and poultry.

Ingredients
1 large Mango
1 Shallot
1 Lime
1 Jalapeno chile pepper
1 small bunch of fresh Cilantro

Directions - Peel and dice the mango. Chop shallot. Seed and chop the jalapeno pepper. Combine in a mixing bowl. Add chopped cinlantro. Squeeze the juice of the lime into the bowl and toss to mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill for one hour.

Ingredients
1 and 1/2 cups of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small avocado, peeled and chopped
1 fat clove of garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 red pepper, chopped
1/4 of a jalapeno chile, diced
The juice of one lime
A couple tbsp of chopped cilantro
A pinch of salt

Directions - Combine everything in a bowl and enjoy.

A Molcajete is a mortar and pestle carved out of lava rock. It is used to grind spices and chiles and to prepare salsas and guacamole. They also make attractive serving dishes for your creations. Like a cast iron skillet, a molcajete needs to be prepped and seasoned before you use it.

You can find detailed instructions on how to season a molcajete at:
MexGrocer.com - Online grocery shopping store for Authentic Mexican food, cooking recipes and culture.



Buy From Art.com

Make this salsa for your next party. It tastes much better than store-bought salsa and is a lot less expensive.

Ingredients
2 large cans of crushed tomatoes (17 oz size)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried cilantro
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 green onion, chopped
1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup jalapeno pepper, chopped
2/3 cup water
Directions - Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Chill for several hours before serving. Makes 6 cups of salsa.

Tomatillos means little tomatoes in Spanish. However, that is just because they look like little green tomatoes. In fact, they, along with tomatoes, are a member of the nightshade family, as are eggplant and potatoes.




Tomatillos can be found readily in most grocery stores. They are often used for Salsa Verde - Green Salsa.

Salsa Verde

Ingredients

8 tomatillos with the husks removed
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded
salt to taste

Directions - In a food processor, place tomatillos, shallots, garlic, green chile peppers, cilantro, jalapeno pepper and salt. Using the pulse setting, coarsely chop. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

This is a healthy salsa recipe from one of my favorite health resources - Dr. Gabe Mirkin. Visit his website at www.drmirkin.com/goodfood

Bean-Pepper Salsa

1 16-ounce can small red beans
1 10-ounce can shoepeg corn
2-4 tablespoons hot red pepper relish, or to taste
1 bunch green onions, white part only, sliced thin
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

Mix all ingredients together and chill.

Yield: About 3 cups