Salsa de Momo Tabasqueña

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy dry skillet
• •Volcanic stone molcajete or high-powered blender
• •Sharp paring knife for removing momo ribs
• •Jicara cup or small dark clay salsa bowl for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the momo

   Rinse the hoja santa, called momo in Tabasco and Chiapas, and pat it dry. Cut out the thick center ribs with the tip of a knife, then tear the leaves into rough pieces. The rib can turn stringy in a molcajete and older leaves can taste medicinal if you grind too hard. Use the leaf for perfume and depth, not as filler.

2. 2

   Roast the tomatillos

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Add the tomatillos and unpeeled garlic. Turn them until the tomatillos blister, soften, and turn olive green, about 8 to 10 minutes. The garlic should be spotty and soft after 5 to 6 minutes. Save any tomatillo juices that leak onto the comal. Let everything cool for 5 minutes, then peel the garlic. No oil. The dry comal gives roasted acidity without frying the salsa.

3. 3

   Grind the chile

   Put the salt, peeled garlic, and 8 chile amashito in a volcanic stone molcajete. Crush until the garlic becomes a paste and the chile skins split into tiny green flecks. Taste the heat later before adding the rest. If using a blender, add the garlic, salt, chiles, and 2 tablespoons of the water, then pulse. The chile should lift the momo, not bury it.

   Chile amashito is not chile piquin. It is smaller, greener, and sharper in a Tabasco way. If you cannot find it, chile serrano gives heat as a compromise, but the Tabasco aroma is gone.
4. 4

   Crush the tomatillos

   Add the roasted tomatillos one at a time, crushing each one into the chile and garlic before adding the next. Pour in the tomatillo juices from the comal. You want a loose, wet salsa with visible seeds, not a stiff paste. If using a blender, pulse just until broken down. Do not strain it. The skin and seeds give the salsa its body.

5. 5

   Add the momo

   Add the torn momo leaves and the chopped white onion. Grind with short presses, or pulse 3 to 5 times in the blender, until the leaf breaks into green flecks and the salsa turns deep green. Stop before it becomes perfectly smooth. Overworking the leaf makes the salsa taste harsh. The women who make this every week know when to stop because they smell it. Learn that.

6. 6

   Loosen and serve

   Stir in the remaining water a tablespoon at a time until the salsa runs from a spoon. Add the naranja agria or lime only if the tomatillos lack brightness. Rest the salsa for 10 minutes, then taste for salt. Serve at room temperature with grilled pejelagarto, white rice, and warm corn tortillas. No cream, no cheese, no squeeze bottle. This is Tabasco. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy momo from the herb vendors, not from a sad plastic clamshell. The leaves should be flexible, deep green, and smell of anise, pepper, and wet earth. If they are yellow or brittle, leave them there. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •Do not use Yucatecan recado rojo or an Oaxacan chile paste here. Those belong to other kitchens. This salsa is Tabasco lowland work: tomatillo, garlic, momo, chile amashito. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
• •The salsa should be loose. It is meant to spoon over grilled pejelagarto and leak into white rice. If it sits on top like a thick paste, add water by the tablespoon until it moves.
• •Pejelagarto is alligator gar, native to the Grijalva and Usumacinta basins. There is no acceptable substitute. If you serve this salsa with another grilled fish because you live far from Tabasco, fine, but do not pretend you have recreated the pejelagarto plate.
• •Chile amashito is not chile piquin. Serrano can give you heat when you have no other choice, but it will not give you the same Tabasco bite. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.

Advance Preparation

• •The salsa is best the day it is made, after a 10-minute rest. It keeps refrigerated for 24 hours, but the green color darkens and the momo aroma softens.
• •You can roast the tomatillos and garlic up to 2 days ahead. Refrigerate them with their juices, then grind with the chile amashito and momo the day you serve.
• •Do not freeze this salsa. The hoja santa loses its perfume and the tomatillo turns watery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 80g)