This recipe is simple, delicious, and fun. The word chilmolli is Nahuatl for ground chilli salsa. Modern speakers of Mexican Spanish would call this same sauce pico de gallo or salsa fresca depending on the region. If the sauce is blended or mashed in a molcajete it would become a salsa roja.
Ingredients
- 1 jalapeño
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 medium onion
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 1 lime
- Salt
If you have a molcajete, throw the ingredients in, in the order listed and mash away. If you are doing it without a molcajete simply mix the salsa in a bowl. I suggest mixing ingredients in Tupperware so you can simply store your chilmolli and you get less dishes dirty.
Step 1. Wash all of the ingredients (except the salt, unless you are a walking meme machine)
Step 2. Chop up the bunch of cilantro
Be sure to pick the leaves off the stems and toss the stems out, or use them to cook another dish. For presentation prupuses you don’t want stems in your sauce.
Once you have just nice tender leaves, commence the chopping. It works best if you take small bunches of the leaves and chop them up. Chop these beautiful green aromatic beasts as finely as you can. Once you think it can not get any finer, chop more.
Throw them in your bowl.
Step 3. Chop the onions
Like the cilantro, dice the onions very finely until chopping them more is no longer an option. Then chop more! The smaller the better.
Throw them in your bowl.
Step 4. Chop the tomatoes
Once more, do your patriotic duty and chop the tomatoes into oblivion. Be careful not to mash the tomatoes up with your knife, simply chop.
Add them to your bowl. At this point you will want to start mixing the three ingredients in your bowl. A lively salad of aromas and colors should be developing in your kitchen, or closet depending in where you are doing this.
Step 5. Jalapeño party time
This step is crucial for any good chilmolli, but you also need to be mindful of your limits and your guests’ limits. Don’t be a hero.
First you will want to split your salsa in quantities that will accommodate your needs. For instance, If half of your eaters ingest spicy and the other half do not, split the salsa in a similar fashion.
Next, you will want to try the pepper and see just how spicy it is. I suggest cutting a ring from the center or rear of the pepper. The tip tends to always be the sweetest and least spicy while the rest of the pepper packs the punch. Once you see how spicy the pepper is, you can decide how much to put in your chilmolli.
Chop the pepper up, once again finer and purer than an angel from a renaissance painting.
Add to your bowl.
Step 6. Add the lime and salt.
Cut the lime in half and give it some hard squeezes (preferably into the bowl, otherwise you will be wasting it).
Once all the juice is out of the half, add a teaspoons of salt.
Give the whole thing a thourough mix and with a clean spoon give it a taste. Don’t double dip unless your guests are your closest asssociates. The salsa should have a balanced flavor of lime and salt, not too much of one or the other. Also, if you feel the salsa is not spicy enough, add more jalapeño.
If you feel that the salsa needs more salt add some more and mix. The same is true for the lime.
Now serve and enjoy! You can eat chilmolli with rice and beans, meat or tortilla chips. If you are feeling froggish, you could even put the salsa in your tacos.