5-ingredient Rustic Fire roasted salsa

The weekend is here and to fight the blues of a rainy pacific northwest day, I decided to make THE most amazing salsa! This puts an instant zing to any dreary day. Also, it reminds me an awful lot of my ammamma’s tomato chutney.

I was very tempted to buy the generic salsa from the grocery store along with the corn chips but I just did not want my weekend to begin with a guilty sugar trip. I am glad I did not, because fresh homemade salsa holds no candle to any other bottled salsa. As a proclaimed hater of canned foods, I decided to roast my own tomatoes. I am never turning back. I am going to roast everything now.

A warning before you start roasting your vegetables: please do not do this in a non stick pan, the coating usually cannot handle high temperatures and starts releasing toxins which you do not want in your food. My suggestion is to use a good old fashioned cast iron skillet. Cooking on cast iron has multiple advantages. The pan gets heated uniformly, so the contents get cooked uniformly. A well-seasoned pan is practically non-stick and can be cleaned easily. I use baking soda for those stubborn sticky portions. There are studies that mention the fortified iron that comes into the food, but I did not do detailed research on this aspect.

I like to keep my salsa chunky. So, I use the pulse option in a food processor or to keep it entirely rustic, use a stone mortar and pestle or molcajete for that authentic grandma style salsa! I did not use it this time, but I have used it before for the salsa and guacamole and there is nothing better, really!

Ingredients:

• 6 Roma tomatoes
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1/2 Medium onion (roughly chopped)
• 1 Jalapeno
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder or taco seasoning

Salt to taste (Ok, 6th ingredient but do we really need to count it as one? Heh!)

Recipe:

1. Take a well-seasoned cast iron skillet and add oil with high smoke point like canola oil or sunflower oil or sesame oil. I try to avoid coconut oil as it imparts that flavor note. Ghee is also good.
2. Make a cut on the tomatoes and roast them. Keep turning them to get even roasting.
3. Once you see that they have sufficient charring (usually, it takes around five minutes), add the jalapeno first before adding the chopped onions and garlic cloves to the skillet.
4. Let the roasted vegetables cool if you are adding to a food processor. If using a stone mortar-pestle, then go ahead with the rough pounding while adding salt and some lime juice (optional).
5. Roasted vegetables naturally have that caramelized sweetness to them. If using a regular pan, add a pinch of sugar. Serve it with some chopped cilantro.