Hi, I am Rich Harris, and welcome back to my kitchen for another episode,in my Back
to Basic series for Video Jug.
In this episode I am going to be showing you how to make a tomato and chili salsa, which
is the perfect recipe for you to hone your knife skills and learn some of those basic
tips that are going to help you in the kitchen.
So, this recipe is really simple, but the best thing about it is it is going to teach
you some great knife skills, which are really useful across the kitchen.
One of the most common kitchen fears is how to chop an onion, so I am going to show you
the most basic way of doing it.
Take a very sharp knife with the onion still with the skin on and you want to look for
the root and just cut straight through the root.
Give yourself two halves.
It is really important to keep this root intact because that is what is going to hold it together
when you chop it.
So, just pull back the outer layers and get rid of that skin.
Now, make sure your knife is really, really, sharp and just take the top of the onion off.
Now, the first thing to do is to cut down into the flesh of the onion.
So, just make incisions out to the back of the onion, almost all the way up to the roots
and not cutting all the way through.
What you'll notice is that I am using my finger nail as a guard.
So, press the knife plate up against it and that can run up and down safely, without chopping
your finger.
So, just keep working all the way along the onion.
So, now we have the downwards incision, it is time to go the other way.
Just run the knife very carefully towards the back of the onion, keeping your fingers
out of the way.
For an onion, this size about three cuts in all.
Once you have made all your incisions it is time to chop.
So, hold the onion together and just slowly run down, don't need to go quickly at all.
So, just scoop this up and pop it into a bowl.
Then the garlic.
So, great tip, with the garlic skin on just take a flat blade of a knife and just push
down.
Then take the tip of the skin off.
It will peel away nicely, so you are just left with the flesh inside.
You could use a garlic crusher, but you don't really need one.
The best that I find is to take the flat blade of the knife, press down, and then three fingers,
just push down and kind of scrape the garlic into the board.
Really, you are just kind of mashing the garlic.
You do not need any salt.
I think that is a bit of a myth, as you end up with this lovely garlic puree, really simple,
really fast.
So, in that goes.
Now, it is time to add some lime juice.
So, you cut your limes in half.
You could squeeze them straight in, but I have a great little gadget here, called a
Mexican elbow and it's almost like a giant garlic press.
Pop your lime inside and then just squeeze straight over your onions and garlic.
Then just add a little pint of salt and give it a quick stir.
It is time to prepare the other ingredients.
For a full list just check out the description box.
So, tomatoes next.
What we are going to do for the salsa is deseed and finely chop the tomato.
We do not need to peel them because we are going to keep it nice and rustic.
The best way to do this is just to cut it in half and then into quarters and then take
your knife and run it flat against the tomato and pull out those seeds.
So, the seeds to one side and you are just left with this.
Add the finely chopped tomato, lay it out flat and just rock straight through.
Just go through in straight lines and then you end up with long thin strips of tomato
like this.
To get it fine diced, just turn around 90 degrees and do exactly the same again, just
rock your knife straight through.
There you go.
That is what you end up with, this lovely finely diced tomato.
That can go straight in with the onions.
When you chop the tomatoes just add them to the onions and garlic.
Just give everything a little stir just to start to mix those flavors in together.
Next, some chilies.
Chopping a chili is actually really similar to chopping a tomato.
So, just take the end off.
Cut it in half-length ways and then we want to remove the seeds just like we removed the
seeds of the tomato and then just carefully run the knife along the length and then lift
the seeds out.
Turn it over, give it a tap and there you are.
Then again, very similar to the tomato, we are going to chop it into long strips rocking
the knife through.
Press it up against your finger nail and just chop it in the other direction to get a lovely
fine dice.
Now, you have lovely finely chopped chili.
Add a pinch of sugar.
Sugar is very important in a salsa because it brings out the natural flavor of the tomatoes.
For a really smoky flavor some of this chipotle paste.
I am going to put about a teaspoon in.
It is quite spicy, but it adds a lovely smoky flavor.
It is really easy to get a hold of, most supermarkets sell it now.
Give it all a good stir.
The last thing to add to this salsa is some lovely fresh coriander.When your chopping
soft herbs there are a few things to remember.
Keep everything really tightly bunched together and I am going to use the stalks for this
as well.
So, just bunched tightly and push up against the blade of the knife and then just rock
through.
The stalks have got a slightly different flavors to the leaves, a little bit more lemony and
add a great crunch to the salsa as well.
When you reach the leaves, scrunch the leaves up into a tight ball and again, run your knife
through and just keep going backwards and forward through the leaves until they are
really finely chopped.
One final stir.
Have a little taste.
I just got a great kick of heat from the chili, lovely bit of a zing from the lime, and a
great freshness as well from that coriander.
Now, if you have enjoyed this recipe, click the subscribe button for more of my Back to
Basic series.
I am just going to put that into a bowl and then serve it simply with some tortillas and
an ice cold beer.
There you have it, my tomato and chili salsa.