Orizaba Salsa Macha Veracruzana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small heavy skillet or clay cazuela
• •Wooden spoon
• •Blender or food processor
• •Clean glass jar with tight lid

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the chiles

   Pull the stems from the chile de arbol and chile morita. Shake out some seeds if you want a cleaner texture, but do not remove all of them. Salsa macha is supposed to have grit and bite. Wipe dusty chiles with a dry cloth. Do not rinse them or they will spit badly in the oil.

2. 2

   Fry the garlic

   Pour the oil into a small heavy skillet or clay cazuela and set it over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook, stirring often, until the slices turn pale gold at the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Do not let them brown deeply. Garlic goes from sweet to bitter quickly, and bitter garlic will take over the whole jar.

3. 3

   Add nuts and seeds

   Add the peanuts and cook for 2 minutes, stirring so they toast evenly in the garlic oil. Add the sesame seeds and cook 30 to 45 seconds more, just until they turn golden and smell nutty. Keep your eyes on the pan. Ajonjoli burns faster than a distracted cook admits.

4. 4

   Fry the chiles

   Turn off the heat and move the pan off the burner. Add the chile de arbol and chile morita to the hot oil, pressing them down with a spoon so they darken evenly. They should turn glossy brick red and smell deep, not scorched. This takes about 45 seconds. No me vengas con atajos: burned chile makes burned salsa.

   If the chiles turn black, throw them out and start again. Chile de arbol is thin-skinned and punishes carelessness.
5. 5

   Cool the oil

   Let the mixture cool in the pan for 10 minutes. This rest finishes softening the chiles without scorching them. The oil should be red-orange, the peanuts golden, and the garlic no darker than honey.

6. 6

   Pulse the salsa

   Transfer everything to a blender or food processor. Add the vinegar, piloncillo, and salt. Pulse in short bursts until the chiles and peanuts are broken into coarse flakes suspended in the oil. Do not blend it smooth. Salsa macha should be spoonable, crunchy, and uneven. That texture is the point.

7. 7

   Jar and rest

   Scrape the salsa into a clean glass jar. Taste for salt once it has cooled completely, then adjust if needed. Let it rest at least 2 hours before serving so the chile settles into the oil. It is better the next day. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use fresh dried chile de arbol, flexible and glossy, not dusty and brittle. At a good mercado the chile vendor will let you smell them. If they smell like cardboard, walk away. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •The chile morita is not there to make the salsa smoky like barbecue. It gives depth behind the sharper chile de arbol. Four chiles are enough. More and you erase the Orizaba balance.
• •Neutral oil is correct here. Olive oil fights the chile and turns heavy in the refrigerator. Use avocado, sunflower, or a clean vegetable oil.
• •This salsa is hot, yes, but heat is not the whole story. The nut, sesame, garlic, salt, and vinegar have to hold the chile in place. Otherwise you made punishment, not salsa.
• •Stir the jar before every use. The solids settle at the bottom because that is what real salsa macha does. A perfectly uniform sauce from a factory is not the goal.

Advance Preparation

• •Salsa macha keeps refrigerated for 1 month as long as the solids stay covered by oil and you use a clean spoon every time.
• •For freezer storage, spoon into small airtight containers and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and stir before serving.
• •The flavor is best after 24 hours, when the garlic, chile, peanut, and sesame have settled into each other.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 14g)