I’m going to let you in on a little secret, a good homemade salsa is always better than store-bought salsa. Ok, I know, it’s not really a secret, but it is something that I really want to hit home with you folks in today’s lesson. Whenever you eat at a Mexican restaurant here in the states you will always have the option of two salsas, salsa roja, and salsa verde. The salsa that I am going to be teaching you to make today is the classic salsa roja or “red sauce”. If you want to make salsa verde then check out my recipe for it here. Salsa roja gets its red color from its two main ingredients, tomatoes, and dried chiles de arbol. It is both savory and spicy, a perfect salsa for just about everything.
Salsa Roja Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: Makes between 2 and 3 cups worth of salsa
Ingredients
3-4 tomatoes
¼ of a medium white onion
4 cloves of garlic
12 dried chiles de arbol, whole
1 Teaspoon of salt
Canola oil (optional)
Instructions
- Char the tomatoes, onion, and garlic: On either a comal or a cast iron skillet char the tomatoes, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat. You will want to char everything nicely and on all sides. Don’t worry if it looks to burnt, The more charred the ingredients are the better the salsa will taste.
While the onion and tomatoes will take 10 to 15 minutes to fully char, the garlic will be done in about 5 minutes. When the garlic is done, take it out, cut off the root, and save for step 3. 
When the tomatoes and onion are done take them out, cut off the root of the onion, and save both for step 4.
- Toast the chilies: In the same hot skillet, add the chiles de arbol and quickly toast them for a minute or two.
Make sure to stir the chilies the whole time that they are toasting as they can easily burn. You will know if the chilies get burnt as they will be mostly black, if you forgot to stir the chilies and they turned out like the chili on the right, then don’t use them, they will make the salsa bitter. 
If they look like the chili left then you are good to go.
- Make a paste out of garlic and salt: Add the cooked garlic and the teaspoon of salt to a food processor, or a blender. Process these two ingredients for about 30 seconds until they make a loose paste.
- Process the remaining ingredients: Add the tomatoes, onion, and chiles de arbol to the food processor.
Process everything for a minute or two, but if you like a thicker salsa then process for 30 seconds.
- (Optional) Fry the salsa: This last step is completely optional, but it is one that I truly think helps to take the salsa to the next level. All you have to do is simply add 2 teaspoons of canola oil to a pot, put it over medium-high heat, and add the salsa. You then want to simply stir the salsa and let it slowly simmer in the pot for about 10 minutes.
Once it’s done, put it in a container, or can it and put it in a fridge until its cool.
- Enjoy
Salsa Roja Recipe
Servings: 2 Cups
Ingredients
- 3-4 to matoes
- ¼ of a medium white onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 12 dried chiles de arbol whole
- 1 Teaspoon of salt
- Canola oil optional
Instructions
- Char the tomatoes, onion, and garlic: On either a comal or a cast iron skillet char the tomatoes, onion, and garlic over a medium high heat. You will want to char everything nicely and on all sides. Don’t worry if it looks to burnt, The more charred the ingredients are the better the salsa will taste. While the onion and tomatoes will take 10 to 15 minutes to fully char, the garlic will be done in about 5 minutes. When the garlic is done, take it out, cut off the root, and save for step 3. When the tomatoes and onion are done take them out, cut off the root of the onion, and save both for step 4.
- Toast the chilies: In the same hot skillet, add the chiles de arbol and quickly toast them for a minute or two. Make sure to stir the chilies the whole time that they are toasting as they can easily burn. You will know if the chilies get burn as they will be mostly black, if you forgot to stir the chilies and they turned out like the chili on the right, then don’t use them, they will make the salsa bitter. If they look like the chili left then you are good to go.
- Make a paste out of garlic and salt: Add the cooked garlic and the teaspoon of salt to a food processor, or a blender. Process these two ingredients for about 30 seconds until they make a loose paste.
- Process the remaining ingredients: Add the tomatos, onion, and chiles de arbol to the food processor. Process everything for a minute or two, but if you like a thicker salsa then process for 30 seconds.
- (Optional) Fry the salsa: This last step is completely optional, but it is one that I truly think helps to take the salsa to the next level. All you have to do is simply add 2 teaspoons of canola oil to a pot, put it over a medium high heat, and add the salsa. You then want to simply stir the salsa and let it slowly simmer in the pot for about 10 minutes. Once it’s done, put it in a container, or can it and put it in a fridge until its cool.
Inspiration from other blogs
From Mexican Please
From Mexican Food Journal
