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.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Chiapas Hoja Santa Green Salsa (Salsa de Momo Chiapaneca)
Created by
Los Altos de Chiapas gives this salsa its sharp tomatillo body, tiny chile amashito heat, and the anise-green perfume of momo, the leaf outsiders call hoja santa.
Sauces & Condiments
Mexican
Make Ahead
Comfort Food
Weeknight
10 min
Active Time
12 min cook•22 min total
YieldAbout 2 cups
Chiapas, Los Altos, San Cristobal de las Casas. This salsa belongs on the table beside warm corn tortillas, frijoles de olla, shredded chicken, and a piece of queso fresco from the market. It is green, thick, and fragrant, not because someone wanted a pretty sauce, but because momo grows in the yards and wet edges of the region and the women who cook there know what that leaf can do.
Momo is hoja santa. In Chiapas and Tabasco, call it momo and people know you are paying attention. The leaf smells of anise, black pepper, and damp earth. It thickens the salsa when you grind it with cooked tomatillo, and it changes the whole character of the bowl. Cilantro alone cannot do this. Do not replace it and pretend nothing happened.
The chile here is chile amashito when you can find it, tiny and green, sharp without taking over the salsa. It is not piquin. The chile simojovel is not pasilla either, while we are correcting names. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina. Ask the women at the market, pregúntale a las señoras del mercado, and they will point you to the right pile.
I learned versions of this salsa from cooks in the Chiapas highlands who roasted the tomatillos on a comal, then crushed everything in a molcajete until the leaf gave up its perfume. A blender works if you pulse it and keep texture. A green puree with no body is baby food. Salsa needs a little muscle. Así se hace y punto.
Hoja santa, called momo in Chiapas and Tabasco, is native to Mesoamerica and has long been used in southern Mexican cooking as both a wrapper and a seasoning leaf for fish, tamales, beans, and salsas. In Chiapas, its use reflects the state's position between the Maya highlands and the humid Grijalva and Usumacinta river basins, where broad aromatic leaves, tomatillos, and small local chiles shaped everyday sauces. Chile amashito is a wild or semi-wild small chile associated with Chiapas and Tabasco; it is often mislabeled outside the region as piquin, but the flavor and local identity are not the same.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
tomatillos
Quantity
1 pound
husked and rinsed
fresh momo leaves (hoja santa)
Quantity
3 large leaves
center ribs removed and leaves roughly torn
fresh chile amashito
Quantity
8 to 12
stems removed
fresh chile serrano (optional)
Quantity
2
stems removed, use only if chile amashito is unavailable
garlic clove
Quantity
1 small
peeled
white onion
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
kosher salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
warm water (optional)
Quantity
2 to 4 tablespoons
only if needed for grinding
queso fresco, cooked chicken, beans, or warm corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| tomatilloshusked and rinsed | 1 pound |
| fresh momo leaves (hoja santa)center ribs removed and leaves roughly torn | 3 large leaves |
| fresh chile amashitostems removed | 8 to 12 |
| fresh chile serrano (optional)stems removed, use only if chile amashito is unavailable | 2 |
| garlic clovepeeled | 1 small |
| white onionchopped | 2 tablespoons |
| kosher salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| warm water (optional)only if needed for grinding | 2 to 4 tablespoons |
| queso fresco, cooked chicken, beans, or warm corn tortillas (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet
- •Volcanic stone molcajete
- •Tongs
- •Rough Chiapas highland clay bowl or barro negro salsa vessel
Instructions
- 1
Roast the tomatillos
Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Place the tomatillos on it and turn them until they blister, soften, and slump in places, about 8 to 10 minutes. Some black spots are good. Burned all over is laziness. Roasting takes the raw edge off the tomatillo and gives the salsa its body.
- 2
Toast the aromatics
Add the garlic and chile amashito to the comal for the last minute or two. The garlic should get a few brown freckles. The chiles should brighten and smell sharp, not scorch. Chile amashito is tiny, so watch it. If you burn it, throw it out and start again.
- 3
Wilt the momo
Lay the torn momo leaves on the warm comal for 10 to 15 seconds, just until they darken and relax. Do not toast them crisp. You are waking the oils in the leaf, not making tea leaves. The smell should turn sweet, green, and a little like anise.
- 4
Grind the base
In a molcajete, grind the salt, garlic, and chile amashito into a rough paste. Add the onion and grind again. Add the roasted tomatillos one at a time, crushing each into the paste before adding the next. The salsa should look thick and uneven, with seeds and roasted skins visible. That texture belongs here.
If you use a blender, pulse instead of running it smooth. A salsa de momo should have body. No me vengas con atajos that erase the dish. - 5
Work in the momo
Add the wilted momo leaves and grind until the salsa turns deep green and the leaf is broken into fine flecks. Add warm water one tablespoon at a time only if the salsa is too tight to move. Taste for salt. The final flavor should be tart from tomatillo, green and perfumed from momo, and sharp at the back of the tongue from chile amashito.
- 6
Rest and serve
Let the salsa sit for 10 minutes before serving. The momo needs those few minutes to settle into the tomatillo. Spoon it over cooked chicken, queso fresco, black beans, eggs, or a warm corn tortilla from the comal. This is a 32-state cuisine, and this bowl belongs to Chiapas.
Chef Tips
- •Look for momo leaves at Mexican, Central American, or Caribbean markets. The leaves should be broad, soft, and fragrant, not brittle or black at the edges. If they smell like nothing, they will give you nothing.
- •Chile amashito is not chile piquin. It is smaller, greener when fresh, and tied to the Chiapas and Tabasco kitchen. If you cannot find it, chile serrano gives heat, but it does not give the same regional flavor. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Do not boil the tomatillos for this version unless your comal is unavailable. Boiling gives a cleaner, thinner salsa. Roasting gives the highland table its deeper edge.
- •Serve this salsa the day it is made. It keeps overnight, but the momo darkens and loses some perfume. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but leaves have a clock.
Advance Preparation
- •The tomatillos, garlic, and chiles can be roasted up to one day ahead and refrigerated. Grind with the momo shortly before serving.
- •Finished salsa keeps refrigerated for 2 days in a covered jar, but the best flavor is within the first 6 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 60g)
Calories
20 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
145 mg
Total Carbohydrates
4 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
1 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Chiapas & Tabasco Chirmol, Recados & Condiments
Browse the full collection
Chef Lupita
Pickled Simojovel Chiles (Chiles Simojovel en Vinagre)
Chiapas highland chile simojovel, smoke-dried and cured in vinegar with garlic, bay, carrot, onion, and oregano, made to sit on the table beside beans, eggs, and caldo.
Chef Lupita
Chiapas Charred Breakfast Salsa (Chirmol Chiapaneco)
Chiapas highland chirmol, made with fire-blistered tomato, onion, garlic, and chile simojovel, the morning salsa for eggs, frijoles de la olla, and warm corn tortillas.
Chef Lupita
Nanchi Curtido Chiapaneco
Chiapas' nanchi curtido from the Comitán table: ripe golden nanche cured with cane aguardiente, sugar, and canela until the fruit turns sweet-sour, fragrant, and lightly boozy.