Authentic Tomatillo Salsa Recipes
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Recipe
Servings 2 cups
Calories
Ingredients
- 1 lb tomatillos
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 white onion
- 3-5 serrano chiles
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 small bunch of cilantro
Instructions
- Remove husks from the tomatillos and rinse them to get rid of the the stickiness. Rinse the serrano chiles. Peel the garlic cloves (you can also roast the garlic unpeeled and then peel after roasting.
- Preheat a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Optionally, line the pan with aluminum foil. This will save you a bit of cleaning afterwards. Place the tomatillos, onion, chiles and garlic on the pan and roast, frequently turning, until they are nicely browned on all sides and softened up. Garlic gets soft the fastest so you will have to remove it first. Then the chiles. Then the onion. Tomatillos will need a lot more turning and toasting until they can be removed. Tomatillos will turn from green to brownish-yellow color when they are done. Place the veggies in a plastic Ziploc bag to have them sweat and continue softening up more. Ideally, you would want to keep the tomatillos in the bag for 20 minutes. Soft tomatillos will be very easy to grind in a molcajete.
- In a molcajete, grind the salt and the garlic into a paste.
- Add the chiles and continue grinding until the chiles turn into a paste.
- Then add the onion and grind it down into a paste.
- Finally, add the tomatillos, one by one, and grind until you have achieved the desired consistency. You want to have some chunks left for the salsa to have an interesting texture.
- At the end, add the juice from the Ziploc bag, then the chopped cilantro and mix together.
Notes
If you don't have a molcajete, try to replicate the texture to get as close to that authentic taste as possible. For that, do the following:
1. Grind the garlic, onion and chiles into a paste using a mortar and pestle.
2. Using a blender, a hand blender or a food processor, pulse the tomatillos until they are blended just enough to have some chunks left. I find that a hand blender works the best for this task, followed by a food processor, and then a regular blender.
3. Now, mix all of the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl with a spoon and serve.
1. Grind the garlic, onion and chiles into a paste using a mortar and pestle.
2. Using a blender, a hand blender or a food processor, pulse the tomatillos until they are blended just enough to have some chunks left. I find that a hand blender works the best for this task, followed by a food processor, and then a regular blender.
3. Now, mix all of the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl with a spoon and serve.