About a year ago, i would turn my nose up at hot, spicy foods. now, I can’t get enough. I’ve been playing with salsa lately. Tonights creation was pretty good. About 2# of plum tomatos diced, with about three of them ran through the blender with a habenaro, and a few jalapinos. Toss in some kosher salt, garlic powder, fresh cilantro, (i have it growing in a pot on the kitchen table) and lime juice, and a diced red onion. Pretty good stuff. Nice heat, but not much that you cannot enjoy it. Who else makes it, and how do you do yours?
Add some garlic next time. glad you are enjoying the habeneros!
Funny you said that. After my fist bite I told Holly that next time I really need to use fresh garlic, and not garlic powder. Also, a palmfull of cumin.
I’m amazed at my palate. Not that long ago, I would get upset at Taco Bell if they threw in medium sauce, instead of mild, because the medium was just al ittle to squirrely for me. Funny how we change as we get older.
That’s pretty close to what I make. You can very or substitute ingredients based on what you have on hand. Try scallions instead of red onion. Try chipotles instead of jalapeños. Try tomatillos instead of tomatoes. Vary the hot peppers. Add a bunch of avocado for guacamole. Cumin is optional. Black pepper helps some time. Try to drain juice from tomatoes to keep it from being too watery. Always taste at the end; you usually need to tweak salt, lime, or heat. It’s a good basic recipe and method open to improv. When you can get fresh ripe tomatoes in summer it’s awesome.
I like how you blend the tomatoes with the habanero and japeno peppers. That’s really nice.
Salsa Fresca is my favorite style salsa. I like to use fresh tomatoes, red onion, garlic, green chilis, fresh cilantro, fresh squeezed lime juice and a few dashes of tomato juice to help keep everything together. It’s best to season to one’s personal tastes using salt, chili powder and black pepper.
The balance begins with acid from sweet tomatoes with flavor from cilantro and finishes with the citrus from fresh squeezed lime juice. Also, adding a dash of sugar helps keep the acidity in check and balances the acidity from the tomato and lime.
There’s so many ways to do salsa. The most basic is probably pico de gallo, which is just tomatoes, onion, jalapeño and cilantro with salt and lime juice. I prefer red onion and cider vinegar but either way is nice.
If you want to impress your Hispanic friends make some Salsa Quemada. Take 6 or so roma tomatoes, one medium onion, and as many peppers you want. Halve the tomatoes, quarter the onion and place cut side down on a rack in a baking pan. Add the chili peppers and roast everything under the broiler until the skins are blackened. You’ll need to turn the peppers about half way through.
When done into the blender along with plenty of salt and half a squeezed lime. You can also add fresh cilantro but it gets bitter after about 24 hours in the fridge.
Then there’s the old standby basic quickie salsa. One 16 oz can of tomatoes. Can be any kind. Stewed is a good place to start. Feeling frisky? Add a can of Rotel. Blender it with diced fresh and/or dried chili-peppers and salt. It’ll be great but adding some diced onion after blending can really be nice. I rinse the diced onion first since the juice can dominate a salsa, becoming more intense as time passes. Add lime juice and cilantro if you want. I’m not a big fan of using raw garlic in salsa. Garlic easily takes over and l taste it for days… That’s not enjoyable to me.
Making your own, even if it’s from canned is far superior to whatever you’ll find in the store. And the options are way open when crafting a salsa.
Euge, you make your salsa with rooster peckers?!
The whole thang.
this is pretty basic for pepper lovers, but if you’re just starting with the hot stuff it might be worth pointing out. most of the heat is in the seeds and the inner membranes. most of the flavor (but heat as well) is found in the fleshy walls of the pepper.
I love the various pepper flavors (habs are a favorite with their fruity flavor). So I generally remove the sees/membranes & use more of the flesh to get desired heat level with more pepper flavor. This is true for whatever dish you use the peppers in - salsas, hot sauce, chili, curry, whatever.
As for the salsas, mine vary depending on what I have on hand. Adding some fruit can be really nice. I particularly like a combination of peach & mango. Cut back, but don’t eliminate, the tomato if adding fruit. Also like green salsas, based on tomatillos.
I like 'em hot, but I’ve learned to temper that for others (the wife appreciates this ;D). I make a base dish that’s only medium hot and then split it into two. To one I hot it up for my taste with either additional fresh pepper or simply add hot sauce to taste, depending on the dish.
I make a bunch of different salsas, but my “go to” recipe is a roasted tomatillo/onion/garlic based salsa with reconstituted chiles. I typically use ancho chiles, but I’ve also used morita (red chipotle), chile de arbol, cascabel, pulla, guajillo, pasilla, etc. (there are so many to choose from). The salsa is blended and finished with a squeeze of lime and some salt. I add just a little sugar if the chiles are too bitter.
I love a good habanero salsa and my favorite involves roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes, and habanero (de-seeded and de-veined), blended with some chiles de arbol. Add a squeeze of lime and salt.
I use fresh tomatoes, New Mexico green chiles(4 Barkers will make about a quart of very hot hot salsa), jalapenos, poblanos if they are in season here, finely minced garlic and shallots, fresh cilantro, a little dry cilantro, dried red chile powder and lime juice. Add salt and let it sit a couple of hours.
If you mean that literally, about 2 tomatos go in the blender, with the hab, and the jabs, and I run it till it’s just this side of liquid. Then, pour the mixture over the diced tomatos and other goodies.
That sounds like the trick. 
This one is served warm as well as the chips. Not as good as mine.
Sorry man, but I checked out when you said “warm salsa”. I like mt salsa good and cold. The chips look great though! I really like making my own chips too. Well, sort of. I get a bag of 6 inch tortillias, quarter them, and deep fry them. Next step, homemade tortillias! 
yeah yeah…I bought seeds to plant “Bhut Jolokia” for this years garden! we will have some hot salsa!!
Some places do that for breakfast and it’s free. So why not? I like the hot fresh chips too. Most places do the same as you do already with corn tortillas since they are a real PITA to make.
Otherwise enjoy the salsa as you prefer.
I’m drying some of my ghost pepper (Bhut Jolokia) pods for seeds now. Seems that my pepper-loving friends can’t get enough of them. Next time they ask for peppers I’m going to give them their own plant.
Ghost peppers make habaneros seem whimpy. Careful! They are atomic fire. Wear gloves when handling. The oil stays on the skin even after a good hand washing, or two!
Yes I have read up on them supposedly very hot with great flavor, I got my seeds from the University of New Mexico’s chili institute!
I like this one, from Mark Miller’s “The Great Salsa Book”
1/4 cup Virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon Virgin olive oil
2 Pounds Roma tomatoes, – blackened
1/2 onion – peeled and chopped
4 teaspoons roasted garlic – finely minced
1/2 cup cilantro leaves – minced
4 whole chipotle chiles en adobo – chopped
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat until lightly smoking. Add the onion, and saute until carmelized, about 10 minutes. Transfer the onion, half the blackened tomatoes and garlic to a food processor or blender, and pulse until finley chopped but not pureed. Add the cilantro and chipotle chiles and pulse again to mix.
Peel, seed and chop the remaining pound of tomatoes and fold in together with the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, vingar, salt and sugar.
I probably make pico de gallo more than any other, though