Yields Makes about 1 cup (serving size: 2 tbsp.) Total Time 30 mins
AuthorLupe Romero Vidal and Chabela Cortés Garcîa

Lupe Romero Vidal and her best friend, Chabela Cortés García, live in a 300-year-old hacienda in the countryside of Hidalgo, Mexico. This spicy, refreshing salsa is one they make often, using in a deep lava-stone molcajete (mortar).

How to Make It

Step 1
1

Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add chiles and garlic. Toast chiles and garlic, turning often, until lightly toasted and fragrant, 7 to 10 minutes; transfer as toasted to a medium bowl.

Step 2
2

Increase heat to high. Add tomatillos and toast, turning occasionally, until blackened on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Step 3
3

To make the salsa in a mortar, put toasted garlic and 1 tsp. sea or kosher salt in a deep mortar (molcajete) and pound to a coarse paste, pushing down with the pestle and then rocking it back and forth a few times before pounding again. Add toasted chiles and coarsely crush, then pound in tomatillos one at a time. To make in a blender, add all ingredients at once and pulse until coarsely puréed.

Ingredients

 4 - 5 green chiles de arbol or 2 or 3 green serrano chiles
 2 peeled garlic cloves
 3/4 pound husked tomatillos

Directions

Step 1
1

Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add chiles and garlic. Toast chiles and garlic, turning often, until lightly toasted and fragrant, 7 to 10 minutes; transfer as toasted to a medium bowl.

Step 2
2

Increase heat to high. Add tomatillos and toast, turning occasionally, until blackened on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Step 3
3

To make the salsa in a mortar, put toasted garlic and 1 tsp. sea or kosher salt in a deep mortar (molcajete) and pound to a coarse paste, pushing down with the pestle and then rocking it back and forth a few times before pounding again. Add toasted chiles and coarsely crush, then pound in tomatillos one at a time. To make in a blender, add all ingredients at once and pulse until coarsely puréed.

Fresh Green Chile and Tomatillo Salsa

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