Safe Salsa (Hot!) - Recipe

I love spicy food. I used to love salsa, but it contains garlic and often onion as well. This year my jalapeño plant went all happy on me, and I ended up with a bag of about 15 of them at once. So I decided to try my own thing and see what happened. I liked the result a lot.

Safe Salsa, Just the Peppers Please

12-15 fresh jalapeños

2 teaspoons coconut oil (or butter)

1/2 Cup raw cashews soaked for 30 minutes in

1-1/2 Cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1/4-1/3 Cups distilled white vinegar

1 Tbsp water + 1/2 Tbsp Corn Starch, mixed well before adding

Measure 1-1/2 cups water in a 2 cup measuring cup then pour raw cashews in until the water reaches 2 cups (or above). Allow them to soak for about 30 minutes.

Slice the jalapeños peppers and warm coconut oil up in a large frying pan over medium heat. Make sure you keep the seed, and all parts of the peppers other than the stem and then sauté them in the heated oil until they just soften slightly (4-6 minutes) and remove from heat.

Then add the water and soaked nuts into a food processor. Pour the sautéed jalapeños peppers over the water and nuts and add the salt in. Save the sauté pan aside. Process for several minutes to break down the nuts, then slowly in a drizzle, add the white vinegar into the processing mixture until it it finished. Process for several more moments to reduce the nuts even more (for thickening), then taste for added salt or more vinegar.

Pour the mixture back into the same sauté pan and put it on medium high heat. Once it is boiling gently, add the well-stirred water/corn starch mix to the salsa and stir. It will thicken slightly. Turn the heat off and let the salsa sit for 5 more minutes to cook all the starch in, then pour the mixture into a quart sized sterile canning jar with a sterile lid. It will last 4-6 months in your refrigerator!

Use sparingly. It's hot, baby.

Cheers!

~Miriam

© 2012, Miriam Mason