pork mole taco, quesadilla, rice, beans
Today over on Chambanamoms, I’ve got some delicious Mexican side dishes for you to try. Now, you have a favorite taco filling you can make, but different salsas are a great way for everyone at the table to customize their meal. Sometimes I like something really fiery, and one of my favorite flamingly flavorful salsas is Zarela Martinez’s Salsa Macha.
In Zarela’s Veracruz, she playfully translates this recipe title as “she-man sauce”, and it really does pack a punch that could make any man suffer. In more careful doses however, the fruitiness of the chiles and the nuttiness of the peanuts really come out and play nicely with a wide range of foods.
She encourages the reader to experiment with the recipe, as this is only a general formula for this type of salsa. You could try adding different dried chiles, or adjust how long you process it, so it could be as smooth as peanut butter. You could use different roasted nuts, or roast the garlic before blending it in.
Salsa Macha (She-Man Sauce) from Zarela Martinez
makes about 1 1/4 cups
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup árbol, dried serrano, or other small dried chiles
- 1-2 garlic cloves
- 1 t salt, or to taste
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup olive oil (we recommend extra-virgin)
- Lightly toast the chiles in a heavy pan over very low heat for 15-20 minutes until they darken slightly, become more brittle, and make a higher pitched rustling sound on the pan. DO NOT BURN THEM!
- Let the chiles cool slightly, then pull off the stem and discard most of the seeds.
- Puree the garlic and salt in a food processor, then add the chiles and grind coarsely.
- Add the peanuts and pulse to crush into bits the size of broken rice grains.
- With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream. It should be mostly absorbed, but leave a thin film on the surface of the sauce. The amount will vary depending on the peanuts.
- Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
- The salsa will keep, tightly wrapped in the refrigerator, for a month.
I’ve been looking for a good salsa recipe. I will definitely try this. Do you have more?
This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
This reminds me of another Mexican recipe you might like:
Quick TexMex Chicken Tortilla Soup
http://www.morethangourmet.com/our-family-recipes/quick-texmex-chicken-tortilla-soup
Thought provoking and interesting, thank you. I was brought up in mexico but moved to england at such a young age I barely remember anything apart from the tasty food and kind people. I finally found some authentic mexican food if you want to have a look, I thought I’d share it with you!