Salsa de Pepita Chiapaneca

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet
• •Volcanic stone molcajete or food processor
• •Clay serving bowl from Chiapas or barro negro salsa vessel from Amatenango del Valle
• •Wooden spoon for loosening the seed paste

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the seeds

   Heat a dry comal over medium-low heat. Toast the pepitas first, stirring constantly, until they puff, pop lightly, and smell green and nutty, 3 to 4 minutes. Move them to a plate. Toast the peanuts until golden in spots, 4 to 5 minutes, then toast the sesame seeds until pale gold, about 1 minute. Do not toast them together. Pepita, peanut, and sesame do not keep the same clock.

   If the sesame turns dark brown, start again. Burned sesame makes the whole salsa taste tired and there is no fixing it with lime.
2. 2

   Toast the chile

   On the same comal, toast the chile simojovel for 10 to 15 seconds per side, just until fragrant and a shade darker. It is small and it burns fast. This chile gives a Chiapas edge to the sauce, not a mouthful of fire.

3. 3

   Roast the aromatics

   Place the tomatoes, onion, and unpeeled garlic on the comal. Turn them as they blister. The tomatoes should soften and collapse in spots, the onion should char at the edges, and the garlic skins should blacken while the inside turns sweet. Peel the garlic. Pass the momo leaf over the hot comal for 5 seconds per side, just until glossy and flexible.

4. 4

   Grind the base

   In a molcajete, grind the toasted chile simojovel with the salt until it becomes a red paste. Add the pepitas by handfuls, then the peanuts, then the sesame, grinding until the seeds release their oil and the mixture clumps against the stone. If using a blender or food processor, pulse the toasted seeds and chile with the salt until finely ground, scraping often. Do not turn it into smooth nut butter. You want a thick, living paste.

5. 5

   Loosen the salsa

   Work in the roasted garlic, onion, tomatoes, and momo leaf. Add the warm water a little at a time, grinding or pulsing until the salsa is thick but spoonable. It should hold ridges when stirred and still loosen enough to catch on the edge of a totopo. Stir in the lime juice and taste for salt.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Let the salsa rest for 30 minutes before serving. The seeds drink the liquid and the flavor settles. If it tightens too much, add warm water one tablespoon at a time. Serve in a Chiapas clay bowl with totopos de maiz. This is a dipping sauce, not a pourable salsa. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy raw pepitas, not salted snack pepitas from a bag. Smell them before you pay. Good pepitas smell clean, green, and nutty. Old pepitas smell like stale oil, and stale oil ruins this salsa before you start.
• •Chile simojovel is its own chile from Chiapas. It is not pasilla, not chile de arbol, and not a cute name for something else. If you cannot find it, use one small dried chile de arbol as a compromise for heat only, but know what you are missing.
• •Momo is what many cooks in Chiapas and Tabasco call hoja santa. Use one small leaf. More is not better. Too much momo tastes medicinal and bullies the seeds.
• •Do not bring Yucatecan recado rojo or Oaxacan chile paste into this bowl. Wrong region, wrong logic. This salsa belongs to Chiapas and it gets its body from toasted seeds.

Advance Preparation

• •The salsa can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. It will thicken as it sits, so loosen it with warm water and adjust the salt before serving.
• •The pepitas, peanuts, sesame, and chile simojovel can be toasted up to three days ahead and stored airtight once completely cool.
• •Serve the salsa at room temperature, not cold from the refrigerator. Cold seed paste tastes dull.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 65g)