Salsa Roja
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2pounds ripe plum tomatoes (or 1 28-ounce can tomatoes)
- 3tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 to 8dried chiles de árbol
- 1small onion, sliced
- 1garlic clove
- 6cloves
- 1 or 2pieces Mexican canela, or ¼ teaspoon each ground cinnamon and allspice
- Salt
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
98 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 399 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
To make salsa: If using fresh tomatoes, place in a pot of simmering water and let cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain, remove stem ends, and purée with a blender.
- Step 2
In a skillet, heat oil until shimmering. Add chilies, onion, garlic, cloves and canela (or spices), sprinkle with salt and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until softened and golden, about 8 minutes. Add tomato purée or canned tomatoes and simmer, stirring often, until thickened and slightly sweet, about 15 minutes. Taste for salt. Purée with a blender until smooth.
- You can simmer poached chicken in the salsa or serve it separately with steak or roast pork.
Private Notes
Comments
If I were to make this again, I’d leave out the cinnamon, allspice, and cloves and add at least two more arbol peppers. I also needed to add water to thin out the sauce. It presents as a “mole,” which is fine, but it’s a little thicker and richer than what I was going for.
I have made this recipe regularly since March 2020, it’s my go-to warming salsa recipe. It is spicy, so use fewer chiles if you’re not so into that.
The instructions leave something to be desired. Should you remove the cloves before blending? The recipe doesn’t say. I didn’t, and the combination of that with the ground spices resulted in an over-spiced mess that was pretty unappetizing. Also, the heat with 6 arbols was too much, and I love spicy food. My advice would be to remove the cloves and set aside the arbols before adding the tomatoes. Remove canela before blending. Then add arbols to blender one by one until the heat is just right.
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