Cuatro Vientos Copycat Salsa Recipe!!

While in Los Angeles recently, I was lucky enough to finally enjoy some tacos dorados from Cuatro Vientos Mariscos restaurant. I knew as soon as I arrived back home that I wanted to attempt to recreate my version of the salsa and delicious tacos dorados! Today, just the salsa recipe. Next week I will load the taco dorado recipe to share with you all.

Salsa Today! Tacos Tomorrow!

I often share with my follower’s salsa recipes on my social media platforms. On any given day, you will find at least three varieties of homemade salsa in my refrigerator. Tacos happen easily once the salsa is previously prepared and ready to go. When it comes to salsa recipes like this fresh salsa, one day ahead is what I prefer. How long does the salsa last? That is a question I get often. It really depends on the salsa and how you handle it once it’s done. Cooked salsas, as I refer to them, are salsas that include mostly cooked ingredients before being blended. I will typically cook those salsa recipes at a steady simmer for 10 minutes after blending. Why? This will extend the refrigerator life of the salsa for an extra 10 days or more. My suggestion, as far as fresh salsa, enjoy it for 2 days. It’s fresh salsa.

The fun thing about cooking is that it allows us to be creative and adjust the recipe to our liking!

For this copycat salsa recipe, I used both fresh chile peppers and dried chile peppers. I could taste some heat in the salsa, but it was not over the top. I enjoy spicy salsa and decided to use some dried chiltepin. That is optional. A few toasted chile de arbol, chile puya, or chile japones would also work.

I think the cabbage in the salsa has been around longer than we know! Lol!

I remember several years back a follower asking me if I had a recipe for salsa de repollo (cabbage salsa) and salsa de rabanos( radish salsa). Could this be what they were asking me about? There is nothing more appetizing when you see a fresh or cooked salsa in a big bowl or molcajete that has fresh diced, chopped or minced ingredients added to it. Have you tried adding finely chopped radishes to guacamole? Delicious! Diced avocado folded into a salsa cruda or roasted molcajete salsa! Now I am hungry for carne asada tacos, lol!

Maybe I am a bit biased, but I truly believe that Mexican food ingredients, especially salsa ingredients are beautiful!

If you prefer a chunkier, thick style salsa, you can eliminate adding water. I prefer the salsa to flow easily over my tacos and add water as needed.

Not all salsa recipes are the same.

There are probably one million and one combinations on how to prepare salsa. Some of us are nostalgic for the salsa recipes we grew up enjoying. And some of us like to experiment and try all kinds of combinations and cooking methods when it comes to salsa. I am both! Lol! Maybe you only ever boiled your tomato or tomatillos and you love that salsa. That’s all that matters is that you enjoy it.

Blender or food processor?

When recreating the salsa from cuatro vientos, I looked closely at the texture of the finished salsa at the restaurant. At first, I opted for the food processor, and I liked the results. Second time, I literally added all of the ingredients to the blender jar! It was fast and still tasty. Third time, I used the blender to give me a coarse tomato base and then mixed in the finely diced onion, cabbage and chopped cilantro. The third one was my favorite! In all honesty, I think I added in more cabbage, onion and cilantro than the restaurant. But that is up to you.

Tacos Dorados! Next week I will share my take on the tacos dorados filled with potato and shrimp!