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Hi, I am Rich Harris, and welcome back to my kitchen for another episode,in my Back
to Basic series for Video Jug. In this episode I am going to be showing you how to make a
tomato and chili salsa, which is the perfect recipe for you to hone your knife skills and
learn some of those basic tips that are going to help you in the kitchen.
So, this recipe is really simple, but the best thing about it is it is going to teach
you some great knife skills, which are really useful across the kitchen. One of the most
common kitchen fears is how to chop an onion, so I am going to show you the most basic way
of doing it. Take a very sharp knife with the onion still with the skin on and you want
to look for the root and just cut straight through the root. Give yourself two halves.
It is really important to keep this root intact because that is what is going to hold it together
when you chop it. So, just pull back the outer layers and get rid of that skin. Now, make
sure your knife is really, really, sharp and just take the top of the onion off. Now, the
first thing to do is to cut down into the flesh of the onion. So, just make incisions
out to the back of the onion, almost all the way up to the roots and not cutting all the
way through. What you'll notice is that I am using my finger nail as a guard. So, press
the knife plate up against it and that can run up and down safely, without chopping your
finger. So, just keep working all the way along the onion. So, now we have the downwards
incision, it is time to go the other way. Just run the knife very carefully towards
the back of the onion, keeping your fingers out of the way. For an onion, this size about
three cuts in all. Once you have made all your incisions it is time to chop. So, hold
the onion together and just slowly run down, don't need to go quickly at all. So, just
scoop this up and pop it into a bowl.
Then the garlic. So, great tip, with the garlic skin on just take a flat blade of a knife
and just push down. Then take the tip of the skin off. It will peel away nicely, so you
are just left with the flesh inside. You could use a garlic crusher, but you don't really
need one. The best that I find is to take the flat blade of the knife, press down, and
then three fingers, just push down and kind of scrape the garlic into the board. Really,
you are just kind of mashing the garlic. You do not need any salt. I think that is a bit
of a myth, as you end up with this lovely garlic puree, really simple, really fast.
So, in that goes.
Now, it is time to add some lime juice. So, you cut your limes in half. You could squeeze
them straight in, but I have a great little gadget here, called a Mexican elbow and it's
almost like a giant garlic press. Pop your lime inside and then just squeeze straight
over your onions and garlic. Then just add a little pint of salt and give it a quick
stir. It is time to prepare the other ingredients.
For a full list just check out the description box.
So, tomatoes next. What we are going to do for the salsa is deseed and finely chop the
tomato. We do not need to peel them because we are going to keep it nice and rustic. The
best way to do this is just to cut it in half and then into quarters and then take your
knife and run it flat against the tomato and pull out those seeds. So, the seeds to one
side and you are just left with this. Add the finely chopped tomato, lay it out flat
and just rock straight through. Just go through in straight lines and then you end up with
long thin strips of tomato like this. To get it fine diced, just turn around 90 degrees
and do exactly the same again, just rock your knife straight through. There you go. That
is what you end up with, this lovely finely diced tomato.
That can go straight in with the onions. When you chop the tomatoes just add them to the
onions and garlic. Just give everything a little stir just to start to mix those flavors
in together. Next, some chilies. Chopping a chili is actually really similar to chopping
a tomato. So, just take the end off. Cut it in half-length ways and then we want to remove
the seeds just like we removed the seeds of the tomato and then just carefully run the
knife along the length and then lift the seeds out. Turn it over, give it a tap and there
you are. Then again, very similar to the tomato, we are going to chop it into long strips rocking
the knife through. Press it up against your finger nail and just chop it in the other
direction to get a lovely fine dice. Now, you have lovely finely chopped chili.
Add a pinch of sugar. Sugar is very important in a salsa because it brings out the natural
flavor of the tomatoes. For a really smoky flavor some of this chipotle paste. I am going
to put about a teaspoon in. It is quite spicy, but it adds a lovely smoky flavor. It is really
easy to get a hold of, most supermarkets sell it now. Give it all a good stir. The last
thing to add to this salsa is some lovely fresh coriander.When your chopping soft herbs
there are a few things to remember. Keep everything really tightly bunched together and I am going
to use the stalks for this as well. So, just bunched tightly and push up against the blade
of the knife and then just rock through. The stalks have got a slightly different flavors
to the leaves, a little bit more lemony and add a great crunch to the salsa as well. When
you reach the leaves, scrunch the leaves up into a tight ball and again, run your knife
through and just keep going backwards and forward through the leaves until they are
really finely chopped. One final stir.
Have a little taste. I just got a great kick of heat from the chili, lovely bit of a zing
from the lime, and a great freshness as well from that coriander.
Now, if you have enjoyed this recipe, click the subscribe button for more of my Back to
Basic series. I am just going to put that into a bowl and then serve it simply with
some tortillas and an ice cold beer. There you have it, my tomato and chili salsa.