how to make homemade salsa

Homemade salsa and guacamole with chips is my favorite summer food!!!  This summer I am going to can some salsa to use in the winter.  My recipe comes from my mother(Ottie Mendez) and stepsister(Melinda Mendez).  There was always homemade salsa around in the summer.  Salsa is best with ingredients straight from the garden but I have made it plenty of times with store bought ingredients.  I do not measure anything but add it to taste.  Every batch is slightly different.  Here is what you will need:

A blender

lemon juice:1 little bottle(pictured) or 2 lemons.  You only need an eight of a cup in the blender

salt to taste

tomatoes:roma are best(the little pear shaped ones) but any will do: about 4(large) or 8-10 romas for a blender full

onions: 1 or 2 large yellow

green chili peppers:(serranos are best but this year i am using banana peppers which are very mild and full of flavor- use the medium or hot count for these): for mild use 1-2, medium use 2-3, hot use 3-4. Every chili varies in potency so add 1 at a time and taste test.

cilantro: 1 bunch: two handfuls from the bunch should do

tomatillos(optional-little green looking tomatoes with a dried skin loosely around them). 4- 6 of these-remove the dried skin and cut in halves.  tomatillos just add more flavor to your salsa and make it a little greener(they are most commonly used in chili verde)

The secret to good salsa, besides fresh ingredients, is how long you blend it, how you add it to the blender, and your porportions to each other, of course taste testing is best to suit your personal preferences. This recipe is for making a blender full, cut the recipe in half for a half blender full Here is my process(I will add pics soon):

1. add about 1/8 of cup to the bottom of the blender.

2. cut up serrano chili peppers(for hot salsa) or banana peppers(for great taste but mild). in fourths is fine

3.next cut romas in half (or if using large tomatoes in fourths). At this point i will add half the tomatoes and the onions and then the other half of the tomatoes

4. now grab the bunch of cilantro and just grab at the leafy end and pull off two handfuls, leaving behind the long stems, if you get some of the ends of the stems thats okay.

5. cut the onion(1 if large 2 if small) into quarters and add to blender.

6. add the rest of the tomatoes you already cut up

7. add salt.  I just pour some in, I like my salsa a little saltier so I add about 3-5 tablespoons worth

8.  Now here is the most important step.  how long you blend all of this toegether affects how runny your salsa is, so the chunkier you like it the less you want to blend it.  use the blend button on your blender and run it for 10 seconds or less, if it is not blending the bottom ingredients and is stuck, be sure to turn it off and use a knife to move the ingredients around a little in the blender, that way ingredients at the bottom don't overblend and make the salsa too runny.  Once the blender seems to be blending and not stuck, blend just until the very top ingredients fold into the salsa and stop.  Now stir and check the consistency to see if it's to your liking. The salsa will thicken as it sits and is best if put in the fridge for an hour or two and then served cold.

I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy some summer salsa this year. 

For an even better snack, make some homemade quacamole and have both with tortilla chips.