Salsa de Rajas is a traditional Mexican recipe for a classic dish of roasted, sliced chillies and red onion in a tomato and tomatillo base with lime juice and soy sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Mexican version of: Salsa de Rajas.
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Salsa de Rajas is a smoky, creamy Mexican dish featuring roasted, sliced chillies, onions, and often cheese. It is perfect as a taco topping, side dish, or dip. The addition of a little soy sauce here lends the salsa a bit of umami depth.
Ingredients:
185g red onion, julienned (about 1 medium)
6 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
4 tbsp soy sauce
400g chiles güeros, whole (about 8–10 chillies)
400g tomatillos, whole (about 8 medium)
300g Roma (plum) tomatoes (about 4 medium)
60g serrano chiles (about 3–4 chillies)
6 garlic cloves, left whole and unpeeled
1 pasilla chilli, de-seeded and stemmed
1 guajillo chile, de-seeded and stemmed
½ tsp chicken bouillon powder
¾ tsp sea salt
½ tsp Mexican oregano
160ml boiling water
Method:
In a medium-sized bowl, combine red onion, lime juice, and soy sauce. Mix well and set aside to marinate whilst preparing the other ingredients.
Blister the güero chillies over an open flame or under a hot grill (broiler) until the skins are blackened and peppers are tender. Cover and allow to steam for 10 minutes. After this time, peel, de-seed, slice into julienne strips and mix with the onion.
Using a comal or heavy-based frying pan over medium heat separately toast the tomatoes, tomatillos, serranos, garlic, pasilla, and guajillo until blackened and tender. The tomatoes/tomatillos will take 15–20 minutes, the garlic/serranos 12–15 minutes and the dried chillies 1–2 minutes. Add the dried chillies to a mug of boiling water and set aside to rehydrate for 20 minutes.
Mince the toasted serranos and add to the onion and chilli mixture.
Once the dried chillies have steeped for 20 minutes add them along with the garlic and some of the steeping liquid to a blender. Pulse to chop then add the tomatoes and tomatillos and blend at low speed until you have a smooth paste.
Scrape the resultant salsa base into the onion mixture. Stir well to combine then season with the bouillon, oregano, and salt to taste.
