Aaron Sanchez deserves first prize for this one. This Salsa de Arbol is the best salsa we’ve ever had, hands-down. Charred tomatoes and toasted arbol chiles set it apart from your run-of-the-mill, restaurant-style salsa. A few years back, we decided to bag the sweet neighbor gifts for Christmas in favor of something savory. This won us major kudos in the hood and thus the tradition lives on. Some red & green tortilla chips make this a truly festive gift.
This is also a festive choice when served with blue corn chips for the fourth of July:
Charring your tomatoes is a little more work than using canned tomatoes, but there’s no question that it’s worth it. Plan on only turning your tomatoes once to avoid them falling apart as the heat softens them.
These might be considered “lightly charred:”
These are more charred and we prefer them this way:
Behold the wonder ingredient behind this salsa:
You can find dried arbol chilis at most major grocery stores. We snatched ours (along with most of these other ingredients) from Smart & Final since it was already a necessary stop for our salsa containers and bags.
First, you toast the dried, de-stemmed chiles, releasing some of their oils & flavor:
Then you soak them – this reconstitutes them and flavors their soaking water, which you will use to hydrate and flavor your salsa:
It’s a pretty magical, spicy broth:
As you prepare and enjoy this dish with your loved ones, teach them a few things about some of the ingredients:
- Cultures who eat lots of red chilis tend to have less problems with their hearts and blood.
- Eating garlic may help keep your immune system strong.
- Tomatoes are great for your skin.
As your charred tomatoes rest, they will release some juices. Be sure and use these juices in your salsa:
The balance of sweet, hot, salty and sour is perfect:
We’ve scored our red and green tortilla chips at Smart & Final in years past. We can’t remember if they were Tostitos or Mission brand, but they worked very well and were reasonably priced. We were disappointed they they didn’t carry them this year, at least here in SoCal (we bought them in Arizona previously). We tried these (see below) from World Market, but they weren’t as good and, at $4 a bag, weren’t cheap. When divvying out portions for neighbor gifts, we usually plan on half a bag per family. We usually make 15-20 deliveries, so that’s $60-$80 just in chips. Regular chips taste just as delicious, but we highly recommend procuring yourself some red and green ones from Smart & Final (or elsewhere) if you can. It really makes for a striking and festive presentation.
We use First Street Brand bleached #6 5.87 X 3.56 X 11 inch paper lunch bags and 16 oz “plastifoam food containers” from Smart & Final (don’t forget your lids). Yes, you have to a buy them in bulk, but we seem to find more uses for ours after the fact.
Let’s learn a few things about Mexico and her people:
- Mostly Catholic, many Mexican children have to wait till Jan. 6th to get Christmas presents.
- Mexico City was built on a lake and it is slowly sinking.
- Many kids in Mexico can either go to school in the morning hours or in the afternoon.
From: Salsa de Arbol
- 4 dried arbol chiles, stemmed (TAC note: this is deliciously hot. For less heat, break 2 of the chiles in half and shake out the seeds)
- 1 pound plum tomatoes, halved
- ½ white onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
- Juice of ½ lime
- Pinch of sugar
- Kosher salt
- Fresh cilantro, for garnish
- Toast the chiles in a dry skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat, shaking the pan, about 2 minutes. Pour ½ cup boiling water on top, cover and let soak 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat a grill or grill pan to high. Grill the tomatoes, turning, until charred. Transfer to a food processor. Add the chiles and their soaking water, onion, garlic, oregano, lime juice, sugar and 1¼ teaspoons salt; pulse until chunky. Set aside, about 1 hour. Garnish with cilantro.
