Sensational Summer Salsa in a Jiffy

Having a get together or planning a meal for friends and family? Looking for something to get the taste buds excited? Look no further – we have an amazing salsa recipe and the perfect product to make it with ease… whether you’ll be entertaining, or simply snacking whilst watching the World Cup or Wimbledon (or watching the world go by!), our Sensational Summer Salsa in a jiffy will be a surefire hit!

A little bit of History

I always like to share a bit of history with you in our blogs, so let’s start by taking a quick look at when salsa was ‘invented’…

Salsa (which started out as a combination of chillies, tomatoes and other spices) can be traced back to the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas. The Spaniards first encountered tomatoes after their conquest of Mexico in the 1500s, and so the beginning of the history of salsa sauce began. Salsa was generally used as a condiment served with turkey, venison and fish and is still popular to this day as just that. Salsa sauce was first manufactured and sold in America in the early 1900s. So as you enjoy your salsa later, enjoy it in the knowledge that it’s been enjoyed worldwide for over 500 years! Wowsers! That’s some amount of salsa!

Ok, enough of the history lesson. This is the gem you’re looking for – enjoy!

POTTERS SENSATIONAL SUMMER SALSA

Ingredients

1 ripe mango, diced
1 medium red bell pepper
½ medium red onion
1 big handful of coriander leaves
1 sweet chilli pepper
Lime juice – fresh from a lime, or bottled is fine
Pinch of salt, to taste

METHOD

Prepare your mango, bell pepper, onion, chilli pepper and coriander. Here are some tips to make things easy…

MANGO:
Prepare your mango. For years I struggled preparing mango! Why I have struggled I’ll never know, when it’s so simple once you know how! Here we go – no more wrestling with a slippery mango, trying to get the skin off and chopping it!

The mango has a flat-ish stone in its centre. Holding the mango with one hand, stand it on its end, stem side down. You will be able to imagine the alignment of the flat-ish stone inside of it. With a serrated knife in your other hand (as the skin can be quite tough), cut from the top of the mango, down one side of the stone. Repeat on the other side.

On each half, use a knife to make lengthwise and crosswise cuts in it, but try not to cut right through to the peel. Invert the mango halves so that the cut segments are sticking out like a hedgehog. You now might be able to peel the segments straight off of the skin with your fingers. If not, you can use a paring knife to carefully cut away the pieces from the peel. Hey presto! Easy!

ONION:
Next, peel and quarter your onion. You will only need half of this.

BELL PEPPER:
Deseed the bell pepper, rinse, then chop into big sections. Now this is another area that’s had me baffled for years – ‘surely there must be a simple way’ I thought… there is! Here’s how…

Carefully top and tail your pepper with a sharp knife. Make a cut from top to bottom. Gently open the pepper out and pull out the large unwanted seeded mass. With a long sharp knife and being very careful, run the knife around the inside of the pepper to remove the white parts (the membrane for want of a biological term!). Job done!

CHILLI PEPPER:
Deseed your chill pepper (the same way as a bell pepper but using a smaller knife), rinse and cut in to biggish sections. Give it a quick rinse.

You may want to consider wearing gloves for this if you have some… even after washing your hands the ‘heat’ can remain behind. Trust me from unfortunate experience; you don’t want to rub your eyes for several hours afterwards! Ouch!

CORIANDER:
Wash your coriander. Ok, so I’m going to admit yet another faux pas… I used to painstakingly pick and wash the leaves, resulting in a whole load of sogginess. Sogginess no more! Simply dunk your bunch of coriander in to a bowl of cool water, holding the bunch at the stems. Then shake off the excess water and pat dry with paper towel. You can leave to dry if you wish if you have time. If not, it’s ready to use! Loosely pick yourself a good, large handful of the leaves – don’t worry too much if there are a few fine stems in there.

CHOP CHOP CHOP

Now for the fun and easy part – who said chopping has to be boring?! Add the peppers, onion and coriander to the Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor (read on to find out more about this fab product!).

Now pull and chop! 3 pulls will give you a coarse chop. Add more pulls for the chop to become finer, until you reach the desired chop level that you’re happy with. As a guide, 10 pulls will give you a fine chop. Pull, pull, pull and chop, chop, chop! It really is THAT easy!

Transfer the chopped mixture into a serving bowl.
Now add your mango pieces to the Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor – pull and chop! The reason you are chopping the mango separately is that it’s a soft fruit. If it had been added with the other ingredients which are hard, it could potentially result in being a bit mushy. This way, you can monitor the mango as it chops, to reach your desired chop size and consistency.
Now transfer your chopped mango into the serving bowl with the other ingredients.
Add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of lime juice to taste, and give the salsa a good mix. Give it a try… you can always add more of any of the ingredients to tailor to your taste buds. Just remember to make a note so that you can successfully repeat the recipe again and again in future!

STORAGE

I very much doubt there’ll be any of this salsa left! But if, for some unbelievable reason, there is, or you’ve prepared it a few hours before needing it, simply cover and store in the fridge – it should last for a couple of days.

For the best flavour sensation, leave it to stand for 10 minutes or so after making then eat it fresh – you seriously won’t be able to resist it!

SERVING

Serve with tortilla chips and/or veggie sticks and cream cheese (or a cheese or yoghurt dip). Or even as a side to a main dish or starter – this salsa goes beautifully with fish! We tried it with salmon – OH MY!!! DELICIOUS! Then we devoured the rest of it with tortilla chips as a snack… it didn’t make it to an overnight stay in the fridge!

And the Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor was a Godsend, taking the chore of chopping away and making it enjoyable. Want to know more about this fantabulous product? Read on…

THE ZYLISS EASY PULL FOOD PROCESSOR

I never envisaged a manual food processor, but here we have it! The Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor has a 750ml capacity and can chop, mix, puree and blend until your heart is content. Simply pull the easy-grip handle and watch – you’ll be amazed!

The sweeper and booster arms make sure that food is always directed towards the blades, so no food gets stuck in areas that the blades can’t reach. The patented Swiss design enables the user to manually adjust the chop level from fine to coarse.

The bowl has a non-slip base, so you can really enjoy all that pulling and chopping (it’s addictive!)! The bowl is also dishwasher safe, as are the blades, making clean up oh so simple – hoorah! The blades even come with guards for when in storage… a safety feature that I love, especially with little, inquisitive fingers in the household (and two clumsy adults!). The lid can be hand washed very easily.

Such a clever, time-saving piece of kitchen equipment that is brilliant for making coleslaw, breadcrumbs, salsa, dips, smoothies, sauces, soups and so much more. I can’t wait to experiment with more yummy recipes with this fabulous bit of kitchen kit!

Oh, and did I mention that it’s not big?! So easy to find a storage space for it – ideal for camping and caravanning, not just the home! And it even comes with a 5 year Zyllis guarantee - what’s not to love?! For more information click here.

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