Comal-Charred Salsa Roja

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The taqueria red salsa, built the honest way: romas, garlic and onion blistered black in a dry skillet, dried guajillos and árbols toasted until they smell like cocoa, then everything pulsed just enough to stay chunky. Smoky, brick-red and bright with lime — it takes 25 minutes and keeps for a week.

Ingredients

• 3 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 3 chiles de árbol (up to 6 for a hotter salsa)

• 1 1/4 lb Roma tomatoes (about 5), whole
• 1/2 medium white onion, cut into 2 thick wedges
• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 jalapeño or serrano, stemmed

• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro (optional)
• 1/2 tsp honey or sugar, only if the tomatoes are tart

Instructions

1. Heat a large dry cast-iron skillet or comal over medium heat for 3 minutes, until a drop of water skitters. Do not add oil at any point.
2. Press the opened guajillos flat against the hot pan and toast 20 to 30 seconds per side, until they smell nutty and the skin lightens slightly — pull them the moment you see wisps of smoke, because scorched chile turns the salsa bitter. Toast the chiles de árbol 10 to 15 seconds per side. Move all the chiles to a bowl, cover with 1 1/2 cups boiling water, and soak 15 minutes.
3. Raise the heat to medium-high. Lay the whole tomatoes, onion wedges, unpeeled garlic and the jalapeño in the dry pan. Char without moving them for 4 to 5 minutes, until blackened in patches, then turn and repeat until every side is blistered and the tomatoes are slumping and split — 12 to 15 minutes total. Pull the garlic out at 5 to 6 minutes so it does not burn; it should be soft and sweet inside.
4. Peel the garlic. Leave every bit of blackened tomato skin on — that char is the whole point of the salsa.
5. Drain the chiles, reserving the soaking liquid. Add the chiles, garlic, jalapeño (seeds and all for full heat) and salt to a blender or food processor with 1/4 cup of the soaking liquid. Pulse in short bursts to a coarse paste, about 20 seconds.
6. Add the charred tomatoes and onion and pulse only 5 or 6 times, one second each. You want a loose, spoonable salsa with visible flecks and a little texture, not a smooth purée.
7. Scrape into a bowl and stir in the lime juice. Taste: add salt in 1/4 teaspoon increments until the flavor snaps forward, and the honey only if the tomatoes taste sharp. Thin with reserved chile water, a tablespoon at a time, if it is thicker than you like.
8. Let the salsa sit at least 20 minutes before serving so the toasted chile flavor blooms; stir in cilantro just before it hits the table. Serve at room temperature with chips, tacos, eggs or grilled meat.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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