My brother has spent the last two years living in Guatemala. One of his Christmas presents to me (given a few days early) was a cookbook – written in English – of traditional Guatemalan recipes.
In preparation for a traditional Latin meal of tamales we’re serving a couple days before Christmas, my brother and I got started early on the side dishes. We made two different salsas and a batch of pickled vegetables. They were quick to make, delicious, and can be kept for a long time. I wanted to share them here.
Chirmol and salsa picante verde: Both of these sauces are quite spicy, though the flavors will mellow a little bit if they sit overnight. Chirmol is a red salsa combining smashed roasted tomatoes and crushed tiny red peppers. The Salsa verde gets its green color from tomatillos and serrano chiles.
Chirmol ingredients:
- 2 beefsteak tomatoes
- 1 package dried piquin peppers (small dried red peppers found at a Mexican market or well-stocked grocery store)
- 1/2 medium white onion, diced fine
- salt, to taste
Roast the whole tomatoes on a dry grill pan or saute pan over medium heat until the skin has blackened all over, about 20 minutes (turn the tomatoes as necessary to blacken). Roast the peppers until fragrant – just a couple minutes. Pulse the peppers in a spice grinder once to break them open. Combine the roasted tomatoes and peppers in a blender and blend until pureed. Add the onion and blend again. Season to taste with salt.
Salsa picante verde ingredients:
- 1/2 pound (4-5) tomatillos, husks removed
- 5 green serrano chiles
- 1 medium white onion, sliced fine
- 2 branches fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Combine the tomatillos and chiles in a pot with 1 1/2 cups water and cook for 15 minutes. Cook the onion in a medium saute pan until brown. Drain the water and puree the tomatillos and chiles in a blender. Add the pureed tomatillos and chiles to the cooked onions, plus the salt, bay leaves and thyme. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add the vinegar and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves and add a little water if the salsa is too thick.
These two salsas have very different flavors. The red chirmol salsa smoky and spicy. The roasted tomatoes go perfectly with the roasted piquin chiles. The green tomatillo salsa is also spicy, but it is sweeter and warmer.
Both of these salsas are addictive; you’ll be reaching for more while your mouth burns.
Encurtido – Pickled vegetables: These are fun to have as a small side dish, or to serve as an antidote to the above salsas. Cooling and refreshing. You can pretty much include any vegetable you want, but the traditional ones are carrots, green beans and cauliflower. Add beets for an entirely different color.
These ratios will make two mason jars of veggies.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (3-4 large) carrots, cut into rings
- 2 cups (1/2 pound) green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 cups (1 small head) cauliflower florets
- 1 cup (2 bunches) small whole white onions, white part only
- 2 cups (1/2 small head) green cabbage, chopped in cubes
- 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and cut in cubes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
- 5 peppercorns
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 whole cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cup vinegar
Combine the green beans and carrots, add 2 teaspoons of salt and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender (5-7 minutes). Drain the vegetables and reserve the water. Add the cauliflower, onions and jalapeños and cook again. Drain, reserving the water once again, and cook the cabbage. (The reason for cooking in separate batches is because the vegetables have different cooking times.) Once the vegetables have cooled somewhat, transfer them to re-sealable glass jars.
To 4 cups of water add the pickling spices – mustard seed, peppercorns, garlic, cloves and bay leaves. Cook for 15 minutes. Add 1 cup of vinegar, strain the liquid and pour it over the vegetables.
