Fresh Summer Salsa

14

Dec

Fresh salsa is the best. It’s raw, it’s healthy, it’s easy. Isaiah and I are both nearing obsession with it and will often eat copious amounts and call it a meal. Here in Paraguay we’ve been eating it with our homemade tortilla chips. The only thing missing is cilantro which isn´t in season right now. We’ve whipped up this meal (snack or side dish for the less crazed) often enough that we have a smooth routine down.

Especially now that we have a food processor! We went to the Scratch & Dent section of an appliance store, NGO, in Asunción in search of an electric oven that was greatly reduced because of a sometimes barely detectable scratch.

Although we weren’t impressed by the selection of ovens that day, we were pulled like a magnet to a powerful, sexy multiprocesador.

We left that afternoon empty-handed but on the bus ride to where we were staying in Asunción, we both came to our senses and agreed the food processor should be ours. We had been using our blender for things like making hummus and peanut butter and worried that our poor little blender motor would burn out before long if we kept working it so hard.

So with cash in hand and ready to buy, back to the store we skipped that early evening only to find it closed. Darn. But we knew we’d still be in Asunción the next day, so after a long sweaty day of tracking down almonds and quinoa in Mercado Cuatro we returned to NGO around 3pm. Only to find it closed once again. Ah yes, they must close early on Saturdays.

This game of cat and mouse only increased my need for the food processor that was bigger, more powerful, and with many more attachments than even ours back home. Something luxurious in the midst of catching drips from our roof and killing bugs! And we had to get it while it was in the Scratch & Dent section or we wouldn’t be able to afford it. Time was ticking.

Luckily, Isaiah was in agreement that the food processor was a tool we would put to such good use in our kitchen, so the morning after the Lady Gaga concert, I hopped on an early bus back to Yuty arriving just 10 minutes before I needed to teach our English class while Isaiah stayed in Asunción a few more hours, just long enough to get to NGO while it was open (the gold stars aligned!), purchase the beauty that’s price was drastically reduced simply because it didn’t have a box, put it in his awesome sail material duffel bag, and catch the next bus home.

Due to the fact that Isaiah had both of our phones (oops), I had to anxiously pace the floor of the apartment until at last, my love arrived safe and sound. I took him in my arms, was impressed at his weight and sleek silver detailing, marveled over all the attachments – juicing, electric mixing, grating, kneading, and more – and started dreaming of all the recipes we could make in our happy life together. Oh and I was very pleased that Isaiah arrived home safely as well.

Fresh Salsa

Ingredients

8 tomatoes
3 onions
1 green pepper
1-2 hot peppers
3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
4 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
cilantro to taste

Instructions

1. Dice all veggies in food processor or by hand, as chunky as you prefer.

2. Stir in lime juice, vinegar, cilantro, and salt.

Notes

When using a food processor, chop only one food at a time to have better control over your salsa’s consistency since tomatoes chop at a different rate than onions, for example.

What´s your favorite kitchen gadget? Or the meal you can´t get enough of?

159 days ago Short URL 4 Comments