Chef Lupita
Chiapas Cochito Adobo Paste
Chiapas' brick-red recado for cochito, built from toasted chile ancho, guajillo, achiote, vinegar, pimienta gorda, and thyme before it stains pork for the oven.
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Salsa de Chaya Tabasqueña
Created by
Tabasco's lowland green salsa, made with cooked chaya leaves and tiny chile amashito, sharp with lime and built for rice, plantain, beans, and fried fish.
Sauces & Condiments
Mexican
Make Ahead
Weeknight
Comfort Food
10 min
Active Time
15 min cook•25 min total
Yield1 1/2 cups
Tabasco, the Chontal lowlands, the kitchens near the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers. This salsa lives where chaya grows like a backyard vegetable and chile amashito is sold in tiny green piles at the mercado. This is not a northern salsa, not a Yucatecan recado, not an Oaxacan chile paste. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chaya is the ingredient that defines it. The leaves must be cooked before you eat them. Raw chaya can make you sick, and no señora in Tabasco needs a laboratory to tell her that. She knows because her mother knew. Simmer the leaves, drain them well, then grind them with garlic, chile amashito, salt, and lime until the salsa turns dark green and sharp.
The chile amashito is not piquín. It is smaller, greener, and tied to the humid heat of Tabasco. Use it fresh if you can find it. The heat should wake up the rice and the fried fish, not punish the mouth. This salsa is daily food: spooned over arroz blanco, eaten beside plátano macho, dragged through beans with a warm corn tortilla. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Chaya, Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, is a domesticated Mesoamerican leafy green long cultivated in the humid lowlands of southeastern Mexico, especially Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas, and Yucatán. In Tabasco, Chontal and mestizo home cooks use it as a daily vegetable in soups, tamales, rice dishes, and salsas, always cooked because the raw leaves contain cyanogenic compounds that dissipate with proper simmering. Chile amashito is a regional Tabasco chile, often gathered semi-wild or grown in home plots, and it should not be confused with chile piquín from the north.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh chaya leaves
Quantity
4 cups
stems removed and leaves washed well
fresh chile amashito
Quantity
6
stemmed
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
peeled
kosher salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
fresh lime juice
Quantity
2 tablespoons, plus more to taste
chaya cooking water or clean warm water
Quantity
2 to 4 tablespoons
as needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh chaya leavesstems removed and leaves washed well | 4 cups |
| fresh chile amashitostemmed | 6 |
| garlic clovespeeled | 2 |
| kosher salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| fresh lime juice | 2 tablespoons, plus more to taste |
| chaya cooking water or clean warm wateras needed | 2 to 4 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium stainless steel, enamel, or clay pot
- •Volcanic stone molcajete or sturdy mortar
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Small barro negro or rough clay serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Clean the chaya
Pull the chaya leaves from the thick stems and wash the leaves in two changes of water. Dirt hides where the leaf folds. Do not use raw chaya in the salsa. Cook it first. This is not a suggestion.
- 2
Cook the leaves
Bring a medium pot of water to a steady simmer in stainless steel, enamel, or clay. Do not use aluminum for chaya. Add the leaves and cook for 15 minutes, until they turn dark green and tender. Drain well, saving a few tablespoons of the cooking water if you want a looser salsa.
Fifteen minutes matters. Chaya is generous food, but only after heat has done its work. - 3
Crush the aromatics
In a molcajete, grind the garlic, chile amashito, and salt into a rough paste. The salt helps tear the chile skin and pull out its juice. The aroma should be sharp, green, and immediate. If you use a blender, pulse only enough to break everything down. A salsa, not a smoothie.
- 4
Grind the chaya
Squeeze the cooked chaya gently to remove extra water, then add it to the molcajete. Grind until the leaves break into a thick, dark green salsa with some texture left. Add 2 tablespoons of cooking water if it is too stiff. The salsa should spoon, not pour.
- 5
Season with lime
Stir in the lime juice and taste for salt. Add more lime only if the chaya tastes flat. The flavor should be green, mineral, garlicky, and bright from the citrus, with the chile amashito landing at the back of the tongue.
- 6
Serve the table
Spoon the salsa into a small clay bowl and serve at room temperature with arroz blanco, fried fish, boiled yuca, black beans, plátano macho, or warm corn tortillas. This is daily Tabasco cooking. No me vengas con atajos.
Chef Tips
- •Buy chaya from a Mexican or Central American market when the leaves look perky and deep green. If the leaves are limp, yellowing, or black at the edges, cook something else that day. The market decides.
- •Chile amashito is the correct chile here. It is not piquín. If you cannot find fresh amashito, a small fresh chile serrano is a compromise, not the same salsa. Say that plainly.
- •Do not add cilantro. Chaya is the green flavor. Cilantro will turn this into a generic green salsa and Tabasco deserves better.
- •For a smoother table salsa, use a blender with only 2 tablespoons of liquid and pulse in short bursts. For the better texture, use a molcajete. Así se hace y punto.
Advance Preparation
- •Cooked chaya can be drained, cooled, and refrigerated one day ahead. Grind it with the chile, garlic, and lime the day you serve it.
- •Finished salsa keeps refrigerated for two days in a covered glass jar. The green color darkens, but the flavor holds. Bring it to room temperature before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 30g)
Calories
5 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
120 mg
Total Carbohydrates
0.9 g
Dietary Fiber
0.2 g
Sugars
0.2 g
Protein
0.4 g
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