Salsa Macha con Cacahuate
1 c.
A chile and oil based salsa originating from Veracruz, Mexico. It is served well with meats and vegetables. There are numerous variations of this recipe, some using other nuts or seeds (especially sesame seeds) instead of peanuts, some using different chiles, some add sugar and acid to balance the flavor, and still others include cocoa nibs. The core recipe, however, consists only of oil, garlic, peanuts, and chipotles, ground to a coarse paste in a molcajete.
Veracruz
Ingredients
Instructions
Instructions
1.
Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic and fry, stirring, until beginning to turn golden.
2.
Add peanuts to oil and fry until golden.
3.
Add chiles and fry briefly until puffed up.
4.
Grind all ingredients to form a coarse paste.
Comments
Made this using peanut oil. I think I ended up frying the chiles a bit too long as there is a noticeable bitter component to the flavor, but that could also be from the peanut skins which I did not fully remove and could have burned. I have yet to use this on anything yet, but based on tasting the sauce by itself, I can see why many recipes add sugar and acid to brighten up this sauce, as it is pretty flat (though that may be because I burned it and that flavor is masking the complexities).
I ended up adding 1 Tbsp. each of brown sugar and cider vinegar, which does make this sauce taste very nice, but I'm still not convinced that doing so doesn't make it an entirely difference sauce.