How to make the perfect Salsa Roja
Bring the heat to your next dinner party with chef Enrique Olvera’s Mexican Salsa Roja (with dried chiles). Here’s how to make it yourself…
You can use any variety of chiles here. If you find a local spice store with a good variety, try out different ones and you will eventually narrow in on your favourites.
These two chiles – pasilla and morita – are earthy and smoky. Although morita carries some heat, this is not necessarily a very spicy salsa.
Salsa Roja (Aracelli Paz)
Salsa Roja recipe
- 4 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- ¼ large white onion, roughly chopped
- 7 plum tomatoes, quartered
- 3 pasilla mexicano chiles, seeded
- 2 morita chiles, seeded
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
How to make Salsa Roja: Full method
In a medium pot, combine 2 tablespoons oil, the garlic, and onion and cook over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and chiles and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the salt and remove from the heat. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.
In a medium pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add the mixture and fry until it changes colour to a garnet orange, 5 to 10 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week; or freeze for up to 1 month.
Tu Casa Mi Casais the first home cooking book from the internationally celebrated chef Enrique Olvera, who also featured in the Netflix docuseries Chef’s Table.
Learn authentic Mexican cooking with this book, a Mexico City/New York-based ode to the kitchen of his homeland. Find 100 recipes which take basic Mexican dishes, encouraging readers to incorporate traditional and contemporary Mexican ingredients.
Get more info or buy from Amazon now
Make a full Mexican feast!
Peanut salsa
Pozole
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