RECIPE – Roasted Chili Salsa

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By Henry Gould – June 5th, 2019

You know when you go to a great Mexican restaurant or taco spot, and the salsas are so good you can’t control yourself, so you end up completely soaking your food in them, resulting in potential discomfort a few hours later? Yaaaa… me too.

The great salsas at restaurants are usually a result of a healthy amount of salt (the “sal” in salsa comes from the latin word “salt”) in addition to lots of chilis (dry or fresh, or both) and acidity from lime, vinegar or something else.

The below salsa is amazing on any kind of Mexican food, but honestly it’s good on anything. It will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

The dried chilis can be found at South China Seas (Granville Island & Victoria Drive) or Los Guerreros Latin Foods.


Roasted Chili Salsa
  • 4 dried guajillo Chilis, stems removed and seeds dumped out
  • 4 dried chile de arbol, stems removed and seeds dumped out
  • 2 fresh jalapenos
  • 1 pinch cumin seeds or ground cumin
  • 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
  • 4 tomatillos, husks removed and washed in cold water
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 lime
  • Sea salt

Turn your broiler on high and set the oven rack to the closest level. Get a pan that can go under the broiler and put on your tomatillos, tomato, garlic cloves and jalapenos. Stick under the broiler and roast until the skins are dark brown, even blackened a little. Once done, peel the garlic cloves and throw into a blender, along with the tomato, tomatillos and jalapenos (stems cut off).

Put your dried chilis in the same pan and stick under the broiler for 10-20 seconds. Be careful as these can burn very quickly. Take out and add to the blender.

Add a little cold water to the blender along with a healthy pinch of sea salt and the pinch of cumin. Blend until smooth, ~30 seconds. If it’s not blending, add more water.

Add the juice of half the lime, blend again then have a taste. Adjust with more lime juice and salt as per your taste. Remember, it’s a condiment (not a soup) so it’s OK if it’s well seasoned.

Enjoy on everything.

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