Roasted Tomato Dipping Sauce (Salsa)

This is a spicy vegetable dipping sauces similar to salsa, often served over fish, chicken or pork as a main dish or rice crackers or tortilla chips as an appetizer. It is often a condiment (called jeow) in an Asian meal.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 8-10
• Yields: 1 cup

Ingredients

• 5  large cherry tomatoes
• 1  bulb of garlic
• 1  large shallot, bulb whole
• 1 -2  small  red and green chili
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1  pinch sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1  scallion, white and green parts, chopped
• 1  teaspoon cilantro leaf, chopped
• 1  teaspoon  fresh lime juice, to taste - (or more)

Directions

1. Put the tomatoes, garlic, shallot, and chilies on a skewer and roast over a grill or under a broiler until blackened. The vegetables should be charred on the outside and the garlic and shallot should be soft when you squeeze them between your fingers.
2. Peel off the blackened skin from the tomatoes and discard it. Peel the shallot and roughly chop. Remove the stem end from the chilies and scrape out the seeds – for a spicier jeow (salsa) leave the seeds inches.
3. Roughly chop the chilies. Squeeze a few garlic cloves out of their skin and place the garlic, the shallots, chilies, salt and sugar in a mortar and pestle, or food processor and pound or pulse until a chunky paste has formed.
4. Add the tomatoes, fish sauce, scallion, cilantro and lime juice and gently pound or pulse until a rough salsa has formed. Transfer to a serving bowl and season to taste.