One and Two Kinds of Salsa

When Gloria Anzaldua was to come to the Sitting Room, Abigail said to me, because she knows that I make salsa, she said, "You should make a salsa for the potluck" which I did and Gloria took the leftover home in a mason jar.

This is a kind of salsa you do not make for everybody, because it is very hot and because it is a homestyle which is best at home. The ingredients are very simple; they are so simple and yet not always easiest to find:

We all have water, and although not all water is the same, in this recipe it is all the same and so is salt, although I prefer the coarser kind. Tomatillos are small green tomatoes with a husk, you can find them canned and they are easier to use than the fresh. The fresh ones must have the sticky husks removed and then be dropped into water enought to cover and simmered until they turn an olive green. Chile santaka are sometimes called Japanese chiles; chile pequin are always called chile pequin and you will find these in Mexican markets or bakeries, they come in one form which is dried.

The chiles are first roasted on a flat cast iron pan--ventilate the kitchen well, as this will cause some sneezing and crying in the faint of heart. Crush the chiles in a rock mortar if you have it (a mocajete as it is called) or in the blender with a bit of water. Roast the garlic if this gives pleasure, and crush it the same. Include salt at will, be generous about it. And then smash the tomatillos with what liquid they have from the can or from the simmering. Now you may smash everything all together to make a mix and add water until it is the right consistency.

This is the salsa which I made for Gloria neither a red salsa nor a green salsa but the strange child of both which is kept at home and not to be made fun of.


So it was after I had made this salsa that Pam Brown inquired of me a second salsa, one that was and is really more of a showy salsa. This is often called ranch-style or it is called pico de gallo which is a rooster's beak. You may serve it with chips or atop tacos, it is even a nice salad topping with chopped chicken and hearts of palm.

The ingredients for this salsa would be easily found:

For tomatoes you will want the kind with flavor, which means you will need to go beyond the supermarket variety, or you may use romas in a pinch, they seem well suited. A white onion is not a yellow onion is not a red onion and in this case you will want a white onion only a white onion will do. Cilantro is always in the produce section, and we in California know cilantro as cilantro and we do not much call it coriander or Chinese parsley, although these are other names which are more or less proper to the plant but never proper in naming the ingredients of a salsa. We seem always to have good lemons and salt is easily found, but sometimes you will not find a fresh serrano chile and you may use a jalapeno chile of which I naturally think less of for salsa, but it is a good chile for many things. Never be tempted to use a canned or jarred chile in this recipe, it so depends upon everything being fresh, which is why it is sometimes called a salsa fresca.

Chop about six medium or eight roma tomatoes into fingertip sized cubes, being careful that none are actual fingertips. Put these in a large bowl. Chop the onion similarly, or finer if you choose. Cilantro may be coarse cut, a simple handful will suffice. Chiles must be chopped finest of all, use six chiles and chop them into bits. Now all of this chopping has gone into the bowl and sprinkled with salt and you will squeeze two lemons over all and toss. This is basically it--nothing to cook, no blender, just a simple tossing like a radish salad. You might want to add more tomato; you might want to add more lemon, you may certainly want to add more chile if you are one who likes it so. Now you may taste it all you want to get it right and you will want to taste it every which way, I won't blame you.

Back to The Sitting Room Home Page
Back to
The Sitting Room
Home Page
Back to the
Cookbook
send comments to the web mistress