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I recently fell in love with tomatillos. I find the tangy flavor goes with many things I love to eat. I am looking for everyones favorite tomatillo sauce/salsa/recipe. I have already done a little bit of experimenting and so far my favorite recipe is this easy salsa:

Boil 4 tomatillos with one chipotle pepper for 15 minutes. Purée the tomatillos, chipotle pepper, and water. Add one tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and one garlic clove minced. Fry one small onion until it just starts to brown. Add the tomatillo purée and heat for a few more minutes. Finish by adding a lime wedge worth of lime juice.

I am tempted to go the creamy buttery route next.

I will try all the suggestions and choose my favorite as the answer.

Update March 21st 2010: So I made the recipe Klypos suggested a few days ago, and I really like it a lot. I couldn't find star anise, so I used 1/2 teaspoon of anise seeds instead, and I think that was too much for this recipe. When I microwaved the vinegar the fumes almost knocked me over, so I would suggest microwaving at a setting other than high (or maybe this was just a symptom of the anise seed substitution). This salsa is good and it beats my previous concoction. I am giving him the answer check for now, but I am still looking for tomatillo sauce/salsa recipes to dethrone his recipe.

edited Mar 22 at 0:08

asked Mar 13 at 6:28

Kris♦♦
940●3●10

OOPS - cover with plastic film - I've amended the instructions to avoid making your eyes water. You can use star anise, aniseed or fennel seeds to get the flavor. – klypos♦ Mar 23 at 17:35

klypos · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-23 17:29:21Z UTC

Salsa? That is an almost exact reproduction from my book of Gran Canarian "Mojo"s - serve it with pilchards (large sardines).

A really original salsa - I know it is original, I invented it -

scald 4 tomatillos with hot water, so you can peel them easily - c'mon, get them peeled.

In a small glass, microwave a crushed anise star and three crushed allspice corns with two tablespoons of raspberry vinegar for a minute, covered with plastic film with a tiny hole poked in it. Stand that for a while (30min to an hour) then give it another minute in the microwave. Run that mix through a tea strainer. To the filtered mix add a level teaspoon of Dijon mustard, give it a good mix,

Take a small shallot and chop it finely, throw it into a blender with 4 peeled tomatillos and the "jungle juice" of vinegar and mustard, let rip for 30 sec.

Now you have a really distinctive salsa. You can dip chips in it, eat it with salad, or cover a steak with it (or a fish steak - it is very versatile). You can serve it hot by putting it on top of "finished food" and microwaving for a minute or less.

Garlic is about as subtle as a brick though a jeweler's window ... yes, I use it, but not when I want to be subtle. You want Italian subtle? Use balsamic vinegar instead of the raspberry vinegar.

klypos · Answer 2 · 2010-03-23 22:35:02Z UTC

OK, another one - but you need a smoothie machine.

In a small glass, microwave half a level teaspoon of cumin powder and half a level teaspoon of cardamom powder with two tablespoons of lemon juice for a minute, covered with plastic film with a tiny hole poked in it. Leave it to stand, so the powder sinks to the bottom.

Make a cup of celery, onion and tomatillo smoothie, about a third of each by weight. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.

Put half a cup of fresh coriander (cilantro) in a blender, add the smoothie and let the blender chop the coriander. Carefully add the lemon juice mix, leaving the majority of the powder as a sludge in the bottom. Throw in three or four tomatillos and let them mix and coarsely chop - leave some texture there. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

That's another nice salsa.

I like to prepare a curry in a bowl, and top it with a layer of this mixed with dried fenugreek (methi) leaves - it is really impressive if you have guests, but you must add the methi just before serving because the flavor is fugitive, it disappears in about 5 minutes!

Tomatillo Sauce

2 Answers