Cooked Chile Morita Salsa

The most under-used chile that I have ever seen is the chile morita. Any of you use it in your cooking or have tasted it? Even in Mexico they are not easily found. They look like a very small ancho chile, dark and wrinkled. When you smell them, it takes you to the great outdoors in front of a wood fire. I keep one in the car because the scent is so woodsy. They are a type of chipotle but you won't find them in a can of adobo. Rather, they are only sold dried.

Grown in northern Mexico in the state of Chihuahua (like the dog) they are purple in color when ripe, not red. Use them as you would a dried ancho chile. They need to be re-hydrated and then blitzed in the blender. When making a cooked or roasted salsa, only use one (or ½ of one), they are very smoky and will over-power your salsa if you use too many. 

 

1 chile morita

5 roma tomatoes

¼ onion

¼ teaspoon salt

1 clove garlic

Remove the stem and seeds from the chile. Toss it into some boiling water and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Drain, discarding the water. Place the chile into the blender and puree.

In the same pan, bring more water to a boil. Pop in the whole tomatoes and garlic. Cook those for 3 minutes. Drain, discarding the water. Place those and the remainder of the ingredients in the blender with the chile. Blitz on and off until you only have small chunks remaining.

Use this salsa on chips, chicken, tacos, eggs, beef, pork, fish or shrimp. It is very versatile and yes, very flavorful!

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