Salsa in Spanish refers to any kind of sauces which are used as condiments, dips, filling even as a salad dressing. It’s so indispensable in all Latin American cuisine such as Tacos, Burritos, Quesadilla, etc…
It’s made of either roasted or raw tomatoes complemented with onion, garlic, roasted pepper, jalapeño (Mexican chilli), cilantro/coriander and seasoned with some spices. It can be prepared a day before and can be used in the recipes the next day. If it’s prepared raw it has a storage life of 2 – 3 days. If it’s cooked it has storage life for up to a week.
As I mentioned above it can be eaten raw or cooked, and are usually served at room temperature. I generally prefer the cooked method as I want the garlic and onion to be sautéed to get rid of the pungent raw flavour.
This is a vegan friendly diet as well. I assure you after trying this recipe, it’ll be your regular salsa as many of my guests were fascinated and relished. When they left my home, they strictly left with the recipe only.
This tasty and delicious Salsa is made with firm and ripened tomatoes either you can go for Roma tomatoes or Bunch tomatoes according to the availability at stores. Alternatively, you can use store bought chopped tomatoes. But I always prefer the combo of fresh tomatoes and store bought tomatoes for my salsa. Store bought tomatoes impart a deep red colour and sharp vinegary punch to the sauce. I highly recommend to use both the tomatoes but you are free to skip if you cannot fetch it from stores. When using the store bought, drain off the some of the excess tomato juice from it as it’ll turn the salsa into runny consistency.
You can be as innovative as you can in adding additional ingredients to the authentic salsa recipe. From tangy pineapple to sweet mangoes, even pickled olives add a twist. Thus, you can be creative and amaze your guests with your variations. One of my such creative salsa is my Instant salsa with no roasting, peeling, grinding. You can make this salsa in a jiffy, if you are suddenly craving for a Mexican recipe.
Click here to jump to recipe card!
Wash the big bunch tomatoes and Red bell pepper, wipe it and poke holes into it. Spray cooking oil on it. Place them in the air fryer and roast it for 20 – 25 minutes till its evenly roasted on all sides. Keep turning the sides as it gets roasted. Alternatively, if you don’t have air fryer you can roast them in the microwave or OTG oven.
If you don’t have any of them, still you can roast it on the gas top. Pierce through the centre of the tomato with a lengthy fork and hold it on the flame, keep rotating till it gets roasted evenly. It may take roughly 10 minutes. Do it same for all the remaining tomatoes and bell pepper.
Once cooled down, peel the skin of roasted tomatoes and Bell pepper. Chop the tomatoes and try to remove the seeds portion separately.
Similarly deseed the bell pepper and discard the stalk, then finely chop the pulp. You can strain the seeds and reserve the juice for later, while preparing the salsa.
Keep the finely chopped onions, tomatoes, red and green jalapeños, garlic and coriander ready. Heat a skillet with little oil, add finely chopped garlic, sauté for a minute till it turns slightly brown, immediately add finely chopped onion. Sauté for 2 minutes with a pinch of salt till it turns soft and brown.
Then add store the bought tomato paste and sauté for a minute till the raw smell goes off. Then add Jalapeño green and red, roasted red bell pepper, roasted bunch tomatoes, store-bought chopped tomatoes stir it well.
Then add remaining salt, pepper powder, cumin powder, dried oregano, sugar, strained tomato water from the tomato seeds. Mix everything well.
Finally add the finely chopped Coriander / Cilantro. Mix well and switch off the flame.
Take a masher and gently mash the salsa to get the desired consistency.
Lastly add the lemon juice and your Salsa is ready to serve. Serve it as a dip for Nachos, or condiment sauce in tacos.
Recipe Card
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Category: Accompaniment / Dip
Cuisine: International – Mexican
Serves: 6
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
Onion chopped – 1 cup
Bunch big Tomatoes – 6
*Store-bought chopped tomatoes – 1 cup (optional)
Red Bell pepper– 1 big
Jalapeño red – 1 tsp
Jalapeño green – 1 tsp
Garlic chopped – 1 tbsp
*Tomato paste store-bought – 2 tbsps (optional)
Coriander / Cilantro – ½ cup
Black pepper powder – ½ tsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Dried Oregano – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1 tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Oil – 1 tbsp
Instructions:
- Wash the big bunch tomatoes and Red bell pepper, wipe it and poke holes into it. Spray cooking oil on it. Place them in the air fryer and roast it for 20 – 25 minutes till its evenly roasted on all sides. Keep turning the sides as it gets roasted.
- Alternatively, if you don’t have air fryer you can roast them in the microwave or OTG oven.
- If you don’t have any of them, still you can roast it on the gas top. Pierce through the centre of the tomato with a lengthy fork and hold it on the flame, keep rotating till it gets roasted evenly. It may take roughly 10 minutes. Do it same for all the remaining tomatoes and bell pepper.
- Once cooled down, peel the skin of roasted tomatoes and Bell pepper. Deseed the bell pepper and discard the stalk, then finely chop the pulp. Similarly chop the tomatoes and try to remove the seeds portion separately. You can strain the seeds and reserve the juice for later, while preparing the salsa.
- Keep the finely chopped onion, tomatoes, red and green jalapeño, garlic, coriander ready.
- Heat a skillet with little oil, add finely chopped garlic, sauté for a minute till it turns slightly brown, immediately add finely chopped onion. Sauté for 2 minutes with a pinch of salt till it turns soft and brown.
- Then add store- bought tomato paste and sauté for a minute till the raw smell goes off.
- Then add Jalapeño green and red, roasted red bell pepper, roasted bunch tomatoes, store-bought chopped tomatoes stir it well.
- Then add remaining salt, pepper powder, cumin powder, dried Oregano, sugar, strained tomato water (step 4) from the tomato seeds. Mix everything well.
- Finally add the finely chopped Coriander / Cilantro. Mix well and switch off the flame.
- Take a masher and gently mash the salsa to get the desired consistency.
- Lastly add the lemon juice and your Salsa is ready to serve.
Notes:
- Roasting adds a notch to the flavour. I would recommend you to do it, though it’s laborious but it’s worthy.
- After chopping all the roasted tomatoes (try to deseed as much as you can), you’ll get a pool of tomato juice with seeds. Strain the tomato juice through a strainer and use it while preparing the salsa.
- Store bought chopped tomatoes can be optional if you don’t get it in the market. I added for its deep colour and taste.
- Strain the excess water from the store-bought tomato by running it through a strainer. Either you can use it in the salsa (if you want thin consistency) or use it for any curry or gravy within 2 days.
- Store-bought tomato paste can be optional. If it’s available in stores as tetra packs, please do try it. It has a sharp vinegary punch which enhances and kicks the flavour of salsa.
- I used bottled jalapenos which are soaked in brine. If you get fresh jalapeno, use one and roast it along with tomatoes and bell pepper. Deseed, finely chop and add it in the salsa. Roasting and deseeding will mellow down the spiciness of fresh jalapenos.
- If you cannot fetch fresh or bottled jalapenos, replace it with pickled Indian chilli or fresh chilli. But be cautious in handling the quantity as they may be spicier than jalapenos. Manage it smartly according to your requirement.
- I used big 6 bunch tomatoes. Try to get this variety or Roma or Beef tomatoes. In India you can try the hybrid tomato varieties. 🍅
- Pick the tomatoes which are ripened, deep red and chunky in nature.
- Any dry herbs are fine, I added dry Oregano, you can try Dry basil or dry thyme or dry mix herbs. If you can’t manage getting any of these dry herbs, feel free to skip.
- You can make Salsa raw also, skipping the cooking part. Just adding the ingredients in a blender and pulse them few times. I haven’t tried this raw version as I’m hesitant to take the raw pungent flavour of garlic and onion. Let me try this raw version once, if it works, I’ll soon share the post for it.
Now time for my Kitchen secrets…😉😍
Salsa is such a versatile dish, can be used in various forms and ways in food. It adapts various ingredients in it and highlights the flavor of the ingredient added.
Pineapple 🍍 salsa
Mango 🥭 salsa
Oilves ⚫ salsa
Kiwi 🥝 salsa
Mentioning it’s versatility again, they travel across the borders, countries, cuisines and reach your palette in a delectable form depending upon your creativity. I’ll share one such recipe where Mexico meets India. Yes, you’ll be thrilled to see a Mexican sauce in a Indian chaat.
This hors ď oeuvre will become a hearty fare for your whole family, you can’t resist making again and again. I transformed Indian Chaat Puri / Golkappas into Mexican Tacos Golkappas