Sunday, March 12, 2006

Salsa Saturday

Yesterday was a fine day in DC. It was a day of (my) first robin and cardinal sightings, crystal blue skies, and David's mango-cilantro-habañero salsa.

4 comments:

GrrlScientist said...

wow, i love mangos, cilantro and habaneros .. can you post the recipe??

GrrlScientist

helmut said...

Hey Grrl,

Fairly easy - chopped mangos (test the green side and the ripe side to see which you prefer), roughly chopped cilantro, and a bit of chopped habanero. Maybe a small splash of sea or kosher salt. I like to grill habaneros on an iron skillet before putting them in dishes. It brings out their flavor - they're so hot otherwise that it's difficult to make it past the flames to get to the flavor. But if you grill them, open some windows and wear a gasmask.

In Thailand, I used to buy mangos and other fruit from streetcart vendors. They would give a mixture of salt, sugar, and a dry red pepper - something like cayenne - to sprinkle on fruit like mangos or pineapple. Variations of this will work in mango salsa too. It may be a bit too fusiony, but I like a Spanish paprika called pimenton de la vera. It has a strong smoky taste, so only a little dab makes a nice addition to a salsa. Also the fabulous piment d'espelette, an ubiquitous Basque red pepper, works pretty well.

Anonymous said...

Hey Helmut, you forgot the freshly squeezed lime juice!

helmut said...

Oops. I should have just let David explain. It's his salsa. And then I went and did the Basque thing and ruined it all. Bad salsa!