Green Salsa

By: Rosa Hernandez

1 pound tomatillos

4-8 dried red peppers

3 cloves garlic

1/3 bunch cilantro

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup reserved tomatillo cooking water

Peel and rinse tomatillos.  Place them in a large pot with 1/4 cup of water.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer until soft.  Don't let the tomatillos get mushy and burst open.  Set the pot aside to cool.

While tomatillos are cooking, you can dry roast the dried red peppers.  Use a skillet with no oil.  This step is optional.

Add the dried peppers to the cooling tomatillos to hydrate them.  Keep the pot covered.

When the peppers are hydrated and the tomatillos have cooled a bit, scoop tomatillos and peppers (as many as you think you'd like) into a blender.  Add garlic, cilantro, salt and about 1/2 cup of the tomatillo water.  Blend well.  Blend in more peppers if you want it hotter.

Banana's Notes:

A good idea is to add just a few peppers to the blender to begin with.  Blend it and test the salsa, adding more if you'd like it hotter.

Some tips from 'Lip' who passed this recipe on to me:

The peppers can be found with the dried spices of the Hispanic food section of most grocery stores.   

8 peppers make this sauce VERY hot.  I usually do four and it has a nice kick.

The cooking tomatillos make their own water, but you can add more if you want.  I just dump the contents of the pot into the blender.

For the cilantro, chop off the very end of the cilantro, but add the whole stalk and everything.