Salsa de Chile Habanero

Los chiles habaneros

Grilled chiles and garlic

Salsa de chile habanero

Salsa de Chile Habanero

INGREDIENTS

• 4 habanero chiles
• 1 large garlic clove (unpeeled)
• 1 cup bitter orange juice (¼ cup grapefruit juice, ¼ cup orange juice, ¼ cup lime juice, ¼ cup distilled white vinegar)
• 2 tsp. sea salt

PREPARATION

Char the habanero chiles and garlic cloves (with skin on) on a dry skillet over medium heat. It will take about 5-7 minutes before they become charred on all sides. You will know that they are ready when their skins have softened and they are nicely toasted (not burnt).

Let the garlic and chiles cool. I like to cut the chiles using a pair of food-quality rubber gloves. There have been instances when I did not use gloves and have touched my eyes hours afterwards. Uff! The chile residue will sit under your fingernails and burn your eyes like crazy. Anyway, cut the top off of each chile. Try to pull out the pocket of seeds. Then, cut the chile in half. Cut out any veins or seeds that you see. Discard. You do not want to add the seeds in or you will have a blistering hot salsa.

Then peel the garlic clove and put the chiles, garlic, bitter orange juice, and salt in a blender. Puree the ingredients until smooth.

This salsa is very watery and you only need a little bit.

Source: Pati Jinich of Pati’s Mexican Table