Salsa negra begins with dried chiles. What inspired this post for salsa negra? A nice follower on Instagram asked me if I had a recipe for this salsa and surprisingly enough, I didn’t! Lol! So the wheels in my head begin to spin, grabbed my notebook and begin searching online. One thing is for sure, when one researches recipes online, there can be a wide spectrum between one recipe and the next. One thing I did gather from everything I read was that chile pasilla was one of the key ingredients. Next thing I did was message my good friend Mely at Mexico In My Kitchen . She’s is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to authentic Mexican recipes. I explained to her the ingredients I was planning on using and she gave me some great tips on achieving that beautiful almost black color for this salsa negra!
Salsa Negra
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2-3 chile dried chile pasilla
- 12 chile dried chile morita
- 1/4 white onion roughly chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic smashed
- 1/3 cup grapeseed oil
- 2 tsp caldo de pollo chicken bouillon granules
- 2 1/2 C water
- 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Directions
- Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles and tear the chile pasilla into smaller pieces. Set aside.
- To a sauce pan, add 1/4 cup of oil and heat to medium low. Add the dried chiles, onion and garlic. Cook until the chiles become aromatic and the onion and garlic soften.
- Add 1 cup of water to the sauce pan and raise heat to medium. When it comes to a boil, reduce and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 20 minutes.
- Transfer all of the ingredients including the liquid to the blender. Add the bouillon and blend on high until smooth. I suggest blending for at least 1 minute, then scrape down the sides and blend again for 1 minute. Set aside.
- In a sauce pan, preheat 4 tablespoons of oil to medium heat for a few minutes. Add the salsa from the blender to the saucepan. Add the vinegar and stir well to combine. Cook the salsa for a good 10-15 minutes or until it becomes thick and dark in color. If you need to add a little more oil that's ok.
- Once the salsa is really dark in color, you can thin it out with some of the remaining water that is reserved. Remember to taste for salt if you add water. If adding the water, cook for a few more minutes.
Notes
This is what the salsa will look like when you first blend it. Before cooking and reducing in the oil.
And this is the salsa after it has reduced into a thick paste.
Still in the thick paste form, I had to rest it on a tostada as my friend Mely suggested.
And then here is the salsa negra with the extra water to thin it out a bit.
Love your recipes thank you so much
Thank you so much Maria!