A thick, smoky, gently spicy Mexican sauce made with roasted tomatoes, chipotle peppers in adobo, onion, and garlic, then simmered to concentrate the flavor.
Ingredients
- 500 g ripe round tomatoes
- 90 g chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 piece yellow onion
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 2 tbsp neutral vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
Method
- Rinse the tomatoes, removing only any damaged parts, then place them whole in a heavy skillet, on a griddle, or under a very hot broiler. Let them blacken in spots, turning regularly, until the skin blisters and splits and the flesh begins to soften slightly.
- While the tomatoes roast, peel the onion and garlic. Slice the onion thinly enough to melt quickly; leave the garlic whole or simply crushed so it does not burn during cooking.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sweat it, stirring often, until translucent, soft, and lightly golden at the edges, without truly browning.
- Add the garlic and continue cooking over low to medium-low heat until its aroma is clearly released. It should smell mellow and warm, never acrid or burnt.
- Put the roasted tomatoes with their juices, the softened onion, garlic, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, apple cider vinegar, Mexican oregano, salt, and pepper in a blender. Blend until you have a smooth but still dense sauce, a smoky reddish brown.
- Pour the blended sauce into the saucepan. Bring it to a gentle simmer, then lower the heat. The surface should move with small, thick bubbles, without splattering violently.
- Simmer, stirring regularly with a spatula, especially across the bottom of the saucepan. The sauce is ready when it coats the spatula, its color becomes darker and glossier, and the raw-tomato smell gives way to a rounded smoky aroma.
- Taste off the heat. Adjust the salt if the tomato tastes flat, or add a very small splash of vinegar if the sauce seems heavy. The final flavor should be smoky, spicy, tangy, and slightly sweet from the roasted tomato.
- Let cool until just warm before serving or transferring to a jar. The texture should remain thick and coating: it should run slowly off a spoon, not behave like juice.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 111.6 kcal
- Protein
- 1.86 g
- Carbohydrate
- 8.28 g
- Fat
- 7.91 g
- Fibre
- 2.62 g
- Calcium
- 21.81 mg
- Iron
- 0.51 mg
- Magnesium
- 4.57 mg
