Salsa Verde

Tomatillos boiled only until their colour turns from bright green to olive, which is the signal and the whole timing of the sauce.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 700 g tomatillos, husks removed
• 3 serrano chillies
• ½ small white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• a large handful of coriander, stalks and all
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method

1. THE TOMATILLOS ARE BOILED UNTIL THEY TURN FROM BRIGHT GREEN TO OLIVE, and then taken straight off. That colour change is the only timer worth using: it happens at around eight to ten minutes depending on size, and it means the flesh has gone from squeaky and acid to soft and rounded. A minute or two past it they start to split and leak their pulp into the water, and what is left behind makes a watery sauce with the body boiled out of it. Taken off while still bright green they are harsh enough to make the mouth water unpleasantly.
2. THE HUSKS COME OFF AND THE FRUIT IS WASHED, because under the husk the skin is sticky. That stickiness picks up dust and grit in the box, and it does not come off without being rubbed under the tap. Unwashed it carries a faint bitterness into the sauce.
3. THE CORIANDER GOES IN RAW AND LAST. Boiled with everything else it turns khaki and tastes of hay, and the sauce goes the colour of pond water. Blended in at the end, off the heat, it keeps both its green and its scent, and the stalks go in too -- they carry more of that scent than the leaves.
4. IT IS BLENDED WITH A LITTLE OF THE COOKING WATER AND NOT WITH THE LOT. Three or four tablespoons. The tomatillos release plenty of liquid themselves and the sauce should coat a spoon rather than run off it; tipped in with all the water it is a thin green soup that slides off everything it is put on.
5. IT THICKENS AS IT COOLS AND IS JUDGED COLD. Straight out of the blender it looks too loose. An hour in the fridge and it has set to about the consistency of single cream, which is right. Thickened on the stove to look right while hot, it sets to a paste.
6. The husks pulled off the tomatillos and the fruit WASHED under the tap, rubbing the sticky film away.
7. Put in a pan with the chillies, covered with water, brought to the boil and simmered.
8. WATCHED for the COLOUR TO TURN -- bright green to dull olive, about 8 to 10 MINUTES -- and taken off the heat at once, before any of them split.
9. Drained, keeping 4 tablespoons of the cooking water.
10. The tomatillos and chillies put in a blender with the onion, garlic, salt and the reserved water, and blended to a smooth sauce.
11. The coriander added RAW, stalks and all, and blended in with 3 or 4 short pulses only.
12. Cooled completely, then tasted and salted again.
13. Keeps 4 days. The green dulls after the second day, which does not affect the taste.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes