Fresh tomatillos, chiles de arbol, and garlic are used to make this Mexican salsa, also known as salsa martajada de tomate verde. This salsa is exceptional because everything is chargrilled until it is blackened and has a great smokey flavor. Serve as a side dish to your preferred Mexican dinner or with tortilla chips.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh tomatillos, husks removed
- 10 dried chile de arbol peppers
- 2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Line a heavy cast iron grill pan or griddle with aluminum foil and place over high heat.
- Arrange tomatillos, chiles de arbol, and garlic in a single layer on top. Grill until chiles are blackened, turning as necessary, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Continue grilling tomatillos and garlic until they are evenly blackened, 8 to 10 minutes more.
- Peel garlic and place in a mortar and pestle. Season with salt and pound into a thick paste. Add chiles; pound until smooth. Add as many tomatillos as you can fit in your mortar; pound until chunky. Transfer salsa to a bowl. Repeat with remaining tomatillos, mixing them into the bowl of salsa in batches.
- The chiles and garlic will finish before the tomatillos, so remove them once they are charred. I use a fair amount of salt in this salsa.
Reviews
This is fantastic! I deseeded four of the five chilies for half a batch and it was plenty spicy for us. My mortar is too small so had to use a little food processor for the tomatillos, but seemed to work out well. Hubs said he prefers this to the Julio’s salsa he has been addicted to.
DELICIOUS! I used it both as a dip, and also to top shrimp and chicken enchaladas!
This is exactly how my mom makes hers and we chow I