I figured I might as well ask the community, so here goes.

We've recently acquired some chili plants for our patio, and now several chilies are ripe for harvesting. We often make cheese nachos as a snack in the evenings, and I enjoy eating them with salsa, so I figured I'd try to make my own. I've been looking up recipes online and some of them look pretty good, but most of them seem to be for fresh salsa, which I really don't want. I want the kind you buy in a jar, only home made. Also, I don't like my salsa chunky, so in the end I'll purée it completely in the blender.

All that said, does anybody here make their own salsa? Any tips, tricks or even complete recipes you can recommend?

Well, it depends on what kind of salsa you want to make. Since it seems like you don't want Pico De Gallo, which is the stereotypical fresh salsa, what you are looking for is called salsa roja. You are not going to be able to make something that tastes like Pace salsa or other varieties because it is like an American bastardization of salsa. For one, it is very sweet and I am pretty sure it is at least 10-20 similar to ketchup. Salsa roja is the more watery, homogeneous type of salsa that you get at a nice Mexican restaurant with some chips as an appetizer. If you have been to a Chiptole restaurant, the Pico De Gallo is the chunky salsa, and the Salsa Roja is the watery kind. May I ask what kind of chilis do you have?


This is a somewhat accurate recipe for Salsa Roja.
http://oneparticularkitchen.com/2009/05/19/salsa/


To be clear, it is going to taste nothing like Pace. In my opinion, this salsa is great for tacos or as a condiment, but very unsatisfactory to eat with chips. I need a good chunky fresh salsa for that.

Yeah, I have never heard of those kinds of chilis. The type that you get at the store here are like, Jalapenos, Serranos, and Habereneros. Hopefully that recipe works out for you.

Could you link a pic of what the Mex and Co salsa looks like? It is likely that I am wrong then. But like I said, I love fresh salsa. I am not the biggest fans of the cooked varieties. For nachos, what is acceptable around here is just nacho cheese with some sliced pickled Jalapenos.

I hate all of you. It's 6:30 am here and now I'm going nuts for some salsa!

Oh man the thought of it is starting to get me physically aroused but the stores aren't even open so I can't even go buy any.

For what it's worth, here are pictures of the plants (I just took them). I can't find a pic of it, and I don't have any in the house at the moment. Should it matter what it looks like? It's a cooked salsa, I suppose they all look more or less the same. Like I said, I'm not into fresh salsa. Well, that should be a good incentive for you to learn how to make your own, like I'm trying to do ;-)

It's not out of the realm of possibility. I do have some beautiful tomato plants but I'm a little weary about growing chilis this far north. Hmmmmm, this is for sure worth looking into. Thank you for starting the thread, this is fun. :D

Well, of course latitude isn't everything, but look at me: I'm at approx. 55°36'N, and my chilies are doing just fine. I'll probably have to move them inside come winter, but right now they seem to be enjoying themselves. Still, our respective climates are probably quite different, so YMMV.

I forgot you are in Denmark. That is north of me (not much but still) so this definitely seems like a viable plan now.

Go for it. Hell, how much can a couple of chili plants cost? There's no need to start an actual farm right off the bat ;-)

Just place them next to your Cannabis plants and they will do fine! ;-)

How do you make these cheese nachos, Wishbone?

Might also look up "Sofrito" recipes. More of a condiment but I suspect it would go well with nachos.

Other than that, I can't offer much. We prefer fresh and chunky salsas, and pico de gallo.

Dammit, now you got me thinking about pico de gallo, fresh chips, queso fresco, and carnitas. And sangria. Guess I know what I'm making next weekend when I get home from my next trip.

Well, I take a large heat-resistant dish, such as what you would use to make lasagna. Then I put a layer of chili-flavored nacho chips on the bottom (I'm quite neurotic about it, so it's somewhat like laying a jigsaw puzzle). Then I put a layer of grated cheese (usually mozzerella) on the nachos. Then another layer of nachos, another layer of cheese, etc. Usually four layers of chips altogether. Then I throw the dish into the oven at 200°C and leave it there for about 15 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and just starting to turn brown and crispy.

Yum! I need to try that.