Recipe: Homemade Chunky Salsa

Being a true California-girl I adore Mexican food, but since there's not much here I've had to learn to make things from scratch like tortillas, guacamole and salsa. And since I mentioned "salsa ingredients" yesterday, I thought it would be fun to share my personal Balkan-adapted recipe for homemade chunky salsa.

Carolyn's Balkanite Salsa

Proportions are general, flexible and a guesstimate of what I actually use. Basically I throw stuff in that I think will be good and adjust quantities for flavor and heat. :)

3 large, ripe tomatoes, finely diced
2 med, hot onions, finely diced
1 large, sweet onion
3 med sweet peppers (long and skinny are the type we get here instead of bell peppers. see pic)
1 hot pepper, finely diced or,
3 T jalapenos, finely diced & crushed
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lime and 1 lemon
2 T cilantro
Salt & pepper to taste

Chop tomatoes, onions and peppers as fine or as chunky as you prefer. Or, if you like, you can do what I do and chop them into chunks and place into a spin-chopper (pictured above). When mixed well to preferred blend or chunkiness, add minced onions, lime and lemon juice, cilantro and hot peppers (or jalapenos). Important: add hot peppers a little bit at a time to control level of heat and to not end up with salsa so spicy that it could rival Thai-food.

Taste test (it's just a good excuse to dip a tortilla chip to test the combined flavor.) You may need to test it a few times just to be sure. ;)

Add salt and pepper to taste. Taste test again with the helpful hand of another tortilla chip and adjust ingredients if necessary. If the salsa is a little hot, you can always add a sugar cube, a little more lemon and a little tomato juice (or paste) to help offset. Otherwise, be prepared to drink a lot of milk (water only makes it hotter). Or, if you're allergic to milk like I am, the only recourse is to go to a mirror and watch the steam escape from your ears and pray the tingling sensation in your lips goes away and your taste buds recover. ;)

Place in air-tight container and chill for at least 2 hours for best first-use flavor. Enjoy!

Alternative Preparations:

Option #1: Roast all vegetables on a grill (including garlic) before blending together in the spin-chopper. This adds a different dimension to the flavor and is especially nice on fajitas or Spanish omelet.

Option #2 (pictured): Finely chop 2 tomatoes, 2 hot onions, 2 sweet peppers, 1 hot pepper (or 1 T jalapenos), 1 garlic clove, lemon juice and a dash of salt. Add all ingredients to a skillet. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1/2 hour. Finely chop remaining fresh tomato, onion, pepper (sweet and hot) and garlic. Combine fresh items with the stewed portion in large airtight container with lime juice. Add cilantro, salt and pepper to taste. Chill at least 2 hours before use for full flavor.

Option #3: substitute 1 cup stewed tomatoes and 1/2 cup tomato juice for fresh tomatoes. I use this option usually in the winter when fresh tomatoes are in short supply.

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As you can see, ingredients are adapted to what's available here and items you can't get here (like jalapenos) were wonderful gifts from friends. :) Fresh cilantro, a must-have ingredient for salsa, is something that has only recently shown up in the produce section of Ramstore (local supermarket) in the last year. Sadly, they were out when I made this recipe, but thanks to the generosity of a friend in the US I had that big bottle available.

Many thanks to those who sent care packages with the above specialty items as well as for the many packets of taco seasoning. They will come in quite handy for my next girl's night out: "Taco Night." At the last one I had the salsa was a big hit--some gals just chose to fore-go the tortilla chips and to just eat the salsa straight! :) As I have a couple jars of jalapenos now, I'm thinking of trying my hand at a green salsa as well for the party. (I've tried making it with the local hot peppers, but it's just not the same.) My brother showed me a quick recipe he learned when he was in Mexico last year, but if you know any recipe's I'd love to hear them! It's always fun sharing these different things with my Macedonian friends--especially since many love spicy food! Though I suppose I should offer some milder options too. :)