Tag: mexican style food

Restaurant Style Mexican Salsa

After researching Mexican Restaurant Style Salsa recipes (the kind they usually bring to the table with tortilla chips), I found that most of them have the same basic ingredients, in the same amounts, with little variation:

Makes About 6 Cups:

Ingredients:

  • 28 ounce can whole tomatoes (peeled with juice)
  • 2- 10 ounce cans Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chilies)
  • 1/4 cup chopped onions
  • 1 clove garlic chopped finely
  • 1 Jalapeno or Serrano chopped finely (take seeds and veins out for less spiciness)
  • 1/2 cup cilantro chopped fine
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon raw sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Juice from 1/2 fresh lime

Makes About 3 Cups:

  • 2-8 ounce can of whole tomatoes
  • 1-10 ounce can of Rotel
  • 1/8 cup chopped onions
  • 1 small clove of garlic chopped finely
  • 1 Small Jalapeno or Serrano pepper chopped finely (take seeds and veins out for less spiciness)
  • 1/4 Cilantro chopped fine
  • 1/8 teaspoon raw sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt\
  • 1/8 teaspoon cumin
  • Small sqeeze from 1/2 fresh lime
  1. Mix in a bowl and then add the ingredients into a food processor.
  2. Pulse until you get the desired consistency. About 10 pulses will do.
  3. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

If you have budgetary constraints or want to keep it simple, I located a basic Mexican Restaurant Style Salsa recipe:

  • 1 – 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (or use fresh tomatoes if you have them in the garden or on hand)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (not absolutely necessary)
  • 2-3 tablespoons of pickled jalapeno rings (add more for heat increase)
    Alternately, use fresh peppers if you can for a better, fresher taste. Take the seeds and veins out for less heat. We have them in the garden during growing season.
  • Cilantro to taste (they do sell dried cilantro – it does not taste like fresh, but will add flavor if fresh is unavailable)
  • Lime Juice – a squeeze or two of fresh to taste (you can use reconstituted in a bottle if that is what you have available)
  1. Combine ingredients in food processor or blender – blend well
  2. Chill covered until served

Big, Bold Bean Bowls

After dining at Chipotle Grill, we discovered bean bowls and found that we could make them at home. Not only could we make them at home, we could make them even fresher than what Chipotle Grill offers. These bean bowls are all you need for a meal and are healthy. There are 3 main things that go into one of our homemade bean bowls:

Ingredients

1. Meat

Grill your meat if you can; otherwise, broil in the oven. Spice with garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Once the meat is cooked, cube into small pieces. We’ve used chicken (preferred), lean pork, or steak. All are good. Once large chicken breat, one lean pork chop (butterfly cuts work well, or a small steak is all that you really need.

2. Fresh Salsa

  • Cubed, fresh tomatoes (2-3 medium sized)
  • Cilantro, minced to taste
  • Fresh, Hot peppers (jalapeno, serrano, chili, cayenne, tabasco) any of these work and use to your heat level
  • Lime Juice (a good squeeze of one half)
  • Tablespoon of Olive Oil
  • Minced, fresh celery (1/4 stalk)
  • Finely chopped, fresh onions
  • Shredded Lettuce (on the side)

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl
3. Beans

  • One can of pinto or black beans (we prefer pintos)

BOWL PREPARATION

  1. Place a single layer of beans in the bottom of the bowl
  2. Add a layer of meat over the layer of beans
  3. Add a layer of the fresh salsa on top of that
  4. Optionally, you can add small dollops of yogurt or sour cream on top of the fresh salsa
  5. Add a layer of lettuce on top (alternately, you may place a layer of lettuce on the bottom as Chipotle does)

NOTES: Vegetarians can obviously omit the meat. Adding some hot, commercial salsa or additional fresh hot peppers will kick it up an extra notch. We found that 2 serrano peppers will make it nice and heated; on the other hand, one will definitely suffice for those who have a low heat tolerance.