Salsa

This is my perfect salsa dip. It happened quite by accident. During a gathering in my house, someone brought chips and jarred dips. A salsa dip from M&S. It was a rather small jar, I asked my friend how much it costs. RM12 for quite a small jar…..hardly enough to feed about 15 people that time. I took a look and the label, screening through the ingredients and thought to myself, ‘Hey, I think I can do this‘ and probably add more special stuff into it. My husband once bought a jar of salsa too for about RM10++, and it was too spicy that it wasn’t very pleasant to eat. I kept thinking we could probably do our own for less cost that it takes to buy.

That got me thinking….people in the old days used to give each other homemade goodness, but now with the convenience of shops, it’s so easy to just go out and buy something. A friend of mine recently had her birthday and I jumped at the opportunity to cook a homemade present. She mentioned she loved my salsa and was so stoked at the present. I think we should start this trend of giving each other homemade goodness. It feels so homey and rustic and probably cost less money to buy something.

I had a lot of fun shooting the pictures for this post. Peppers are such
pretty mediums and their colours are so attractive.

 How pretty is that? 

 A homemade present, complete with a label….

 Salsa I made from a year ago…

SALSA RECIPE

Ingredients;

A can of diced tomatoes
A small can of pureed tomatoes
Roast red peppers
Green pepper, hulled, de-seeded, cut into small dices
1 big red onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
White wine vinegar
Paprika
Cayenne
Jalapeno sauce, or one jalapeno chopped
Chipotle sauce (optional)
Salt
Black Pepper
Lime juice
Sugar
Coriander, chopped
Water
Olive oil

Steps;

1. Sweat the onions and garlic in a pan of olive oil till they’re soft. Add the whole can of diced tomatoes, tomato purée and roasted red peppers. Chop the diced tomatoes into smaller pieces with your spatula. I like to retain some chunkiness but not too big.
2. Let the flavours marry each other then add white wine vinegar, paprika, cayenne, jalapeno sauce, chipotle sauce, pepper and a pinch of salt. Add some water if it’s looking too dry or thick. Taste first before deciding if it needs lime juice and sugar.
3. Let it simmer in low heat for 15 mins. At the last second, add your chopped coriander and green peppers. Turn off the heat. Taste and adjust seasonings.
4. Let the dip come to room temp before storing them in jars. Eat with chips or other accompaniments.