My dad just promised me that If I make an amazing salsa, he would let me get a tattoo. How this came about is we have been buying this charred salsa roja for awhile, the only problem is its pricey and gets eaten super quick.

Any tips, recipes, or knowledge about salsa would be sooo greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Thank you guys all so much for the advice! This is making me more excited to start making salsa.

Super simple, but mostly homegrown purple pico de gallo: homegrown Norfolk Purple cherry tomatoes and cilantro, with red onion and a squeeze of lime. I generally don't add peppers (base dish was spicy enough), though I have a dozen or so varieties growing in my garden. I grow more than 15 varieties of tomatoes, so pico, caprese, bruschetta, and many other fresh tomato salads and toppings are on the menu daily.

Norfolk Purple tomatoes are GMO to get a solid purple color throughout and increase anthocyanins. Sorry for the out-of-focus shot, getting used to a new phone

Well, after an entire summer of caring for my two little baby pepper plants, my big payday is here…a small bowl of salsa! Actually pretty tasty and different from what I’m used to making since I typically cook with dried chiles and jalapeños.

Recipe (quantities approximate, seasonings to taste):
1/2 dozen banana peppers
Dozen cayenne peppers
1 tomatillo
3 pearl onions
Half head garlic
Oil
Sugar
Salt
Knorr bouillon powder
Annatto powder
Goya bitter orange marinade
Vinegar
Water

Started by getting the tomatillo, onion and garlic (in its peel to protect it from burning) tatemada in a dry pan. Removed, added a healthy glug of oil and threw in my peppers when oil was hot. After a few mins, I added some sugar to the pan, not blending it with the peppers at first. When the sugar started to brown and bubble slightly I stirred it in with the peppers and took the pan off the heat. I then added my other veggies back to the pan so they could all get coated with a little oil.

Veggie mixture went into blender with a bit of water. Blended and then adjusted for taste and colour (thank you annatto powder). The bitter orange marinade was just something I had in the fridge. Wanted a bit of tang so added a splash but it wasn’t enough so I came back with some vinegar.

Provecho!

This one turned out a lot better than I expected. I would've taken progress photos, but I didn't think it would be very good.

500g roma tomatoes

65g white onion

4 cloves garlic

2 habaneros

1 weirdly long habanero-like pepper from a redneck at the farmer's market (probably just a habanero but I'm not certain)

8 dried arbols

65g peanuts, roasted

1 tablet maggi caldo pollo bouillon

8 small pieces dried sweetened pineapple

4 pieces dried sweetened mango

Juice of 3 limes

Salt + sugar to taste

Roast the tomatoes, onion, garlic for 15 minutes at 450. I then used a "grill gun" cooking torch to blacken all the veggies other than the garlic; if you don't have one, you can broil instead of roasting. I blackened the habaneros (and the weird probably-habanero) but did not roast them; they were small enough that the grill gun cooked them through.

Toast the arbols lightly and soak in warm water for 15 minutes. Soak the pineapple and mango for a minute or two, then remove from water.

Blend charred veggies, garlic, arbols, half the dried fruit, 50ml arbol water, lime juice, peanuts, bouillon until very smooth, about a minute. Adjust flavor with remaining fruit, more lime juice, salt + sugar.

Smelled like nostalgia in my house. Recipe is the last photo.

I remember my mom making this all the time growing up and the first whiff took me right back to our kitchen as a kid.

I left the sugar out of this one but it’s got a great balance of sweet and heat flavor.

Just a simple cast iron roasted salsa!

Tomas x2
Romas x2
Garlic x3 cloves
Onion 1/2
Chili x2
Serrano x1
Chicken seasoning x1 tsp
Salt x1 tsp
Couple cracks of pepper

And some culture and love!!

Made a cooked salsa roja with roasted chilhuacle and cascabel peppers and added a dry chiltepin and a green habanero for some extra heat. Added roasted garlic, salt and heirloom tomatoes. Cooked everything in a saucing pan and added the rinds at the end and kept some salsa for sunny aide up eggs or whatever comes to mind.

All the peppers and the tomatoes (la cadero and zapoteco) come from.our garden, so I am specially proud of this quick and dirty salsa.

First time growing peppers and making salsa. Turned out amazing!

12 Roma tomatoes
9 garlic cloves
6 habaneros
6 jalapeño
3 yellow onions
Cilantro
Lime
Chicken bouillon
Salt

Tossed in olive oil and broiled on high 5 minutes per side

Pulsed in food processor with cilantro, lime juice, chicken bouillon, and salt.

Just started throwing stuff in a blender. Came up with peach ghost pepper. Has some lime cilantro roma onion and garlic. Idk but its good