Basic Red Sauce (Salsa De Chile Rojo)
When you go out for Mexican food at your favorite little place, and your food's covered with that delicious red sauce, and you wish you could make it at home? Now you can! This is so simple to make! I found this recipe in one of my gazillion cookbooks. I decided to give it a try. I'd been using the same red sauce for years, and loved it, so I'm not sure why I even tried this one. But am I glad I did!!! lol This recipe is mild, so should you want yours more spicy, then you'll want to use the hotter dried chiles. Either way, I'm sure you will love it. Don't be afraid of the dried chiles if this is your first attempt. It really is simple to do, and the end result will be so worth it. Where I buy my dried chiles, actually it's Albertson's, there's a rack in the specialty aisle, and there are cellophane bags hanging up. Usually, the bags have the type of chile and how spicy hot it is. So, that should help you out some. If you can't find any, zmail me and I'll help you. This freezes well.
INGREDIENTS
Nutrition- 8
- 3 1⁄2cups warm water
- 1
- 2
- 1⁄4cup vegetable oil
- 1(8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1
- 1tablespoon cumin seed
- 1teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
- Soak chiles in warm water until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain; strain and reserve liquid. Remove stems and seeds and membranes from the chiles. Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil in a 2-qt. saucepan until onion is tender. Add chiles and 2 cups of the reserved liquid , the tomato sauce, oregano, cumin and salt. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes. Cool.
- Transfer to blender container; cover and blend on low speed until smooth. Strain. Refrigerate sauce no longer than 10 days.
- Note: I strain mine in a mesh strainer or colander. It takes a few minutes, but keep thinking of how great this is going to taste!