I mentioned my uber delicious pico de gallo this in another thread and I thought I would throw this out there. But some caveats before I start in.
This is not so much recipe as it is a series of suggestions. The reasoning behind this is that your tastes might vary from mine so feel free to adjust it your tastes.
When making this you must shop like a prick. You must seek out the best possible ingredients because this pico de gallo is not cooked or blended at all. So everything should taste good on its own for the best possible results.
Also this good-sized batch and it is great for parties. It is delicious but because it is all fresh ingredients and has little in the way of preservatives it doesn’t hold for more then a couple of days. So you might want to make a half of a batch depending on how fast you think you can gobble it up.
Now let’s get on with the pico de gallo goodness.
12 Roma tomatoes – diced into small cubes: I usually used Roma tomatoes because they are fairly easy to find and are usually ripe and don’t have to much in the way of pulp, If the Roma tomatoes look less than appealing feel free to grab up whatever tomatoes do look good. Please remember if say the beefsteak tomatoes look awesome you will not need twelve o them. Five or six should do well depending on how big they are. Also cherry or grape tomatoes are always easy to find and work fine.
3 or 4 Jalapeño peppers and one pableno pepper – diced fine: The pablenos add a lot of flavor without too much heat and the jalapeños add the heat. If you want it hotter leave the ribs and seeds in the jalapeños if you want it milder remove them. If you’re feeling frisky remove the ribs on some and not on others. You can use any chili combination you like and can fine but this works for me and is fairly easy to find.
1 bell pepper (preferably red or yellow) – diced fine: I like the bell pepper to add some flavor and the sweetness balances out the heat. I like the red and yellow peppers because they tend to be the sweetest.
2 or 3 cloves of garlic – minced as finely as possible. If you have an electric chopper or food processor just check the cloves in there and pulse a few times.
1 medium onion – diced fine: Use whatever onion is handy but avoid really strong onions that make your eyes water really badly. They tend to overpower the whole dish. If you can find a sweet onion like a Vidalia onion go for it. In a pinch you can use green onions as well. Use about 4 or 5 green onions including the green parts.
Cilantro and oregano – chopped roughly: I never measure this stuff I just grab a handful or so and give it a good chop and chuck it in. If you don’t like cilantro I suppose you could use parsley but if you don’t like cilantro I have no idea why you would be making Mexican food.
The juice of about two limes: Please use fresh lime juice. Limes are cheap and easy to squeeze so don’t skimp here.
Seasoning: Here’s where I get all freestyle. One warning under no circumstances should you ever heavily salt this dish. The salt will draw the moisture out of everything and turns this into soup and that sucks. Generally I use about teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of chili powder. Feel free to experiment because I do it all the time.
Once everything is chopped and mixed together put in the fridge and leave it alone for a bit. It gives a bit of time for the seasoning to work and makes the dish taste a bit better. You can eat it as soon as you are done and it will be fine. But I think it’s a bit better if it gets a chance to sit for a bit.
So go nuts and eat this on tortillas chips or in a taco or on a taquito.
I personally like this recipe about fifty times better than anything I can get in a store.
This is not so much recipe as it is a series of suggestions. The reasoning behind this is that your tastes might vary from mine so feel free to adjust it your tastes.
When making this you must shop like a prick. You must seek out the best possible ingredients because this pico de gallo is not cooked or blended at all. So everything should taste good on its own for the best possible results.
Also this good-sized batch and it is great for parties. It is delicious but because it is all fresh ingredients and has little in the way of preservatives it doesn’t hold for more then a couple of days. So you might want to make a half of a batch depending on how fast you think you can gobble it up.
Now let’s get on with the pico de gallo goodness.
12 Roma tomatoes – diced into small cubes: I usually used Roma tomatoes because they are fairly easy to find and are usually ripe and don’t have to much in the way of pulp, If the Roma tomatoes look less than appealing feel free to grab up whatever tomatoes do look good. Please remember if say the beefsteak tomatoes look awesome you will not need twelve o them. Five or six should do well depending on how big they are. Also cherry or grape tomatoes are always easy to find and work fine.
3 or 4 Jalapeño peppers and one pableno pepper – diced fine: The pablenos add a lot of flavor without too much heat and the jalapeños add the heat. If you want it hotter leave the ribs and seeds in the jalapeños if you want it milder remove them. If you’re feeling frisky remove the ribs on some and not on others. You can use any chili combination you like and can fine but this works for me and is fairly easy to find.
1 bell pepper (preferably red or yellow) – diced fine: I like the bell pepper to add some flavor and the sweetness balances out the heat. I like the red and yellow peppers because they tend to be the sweetest.
2 or 3 cloves of garlic – minced as finely as possible. If you have an electric chopper or food processor just check the cloves in there and pulse a few times.
1 medium onion – diced fine: Use whatever onion is handy but avoid really strong onions that make your eyes water really badly. They tend to overpower the whole dish. If you can find a sweet onion like a Vidalia onion go for it. In a pinch you can use green onions as well. Use about 4 or 5 green onions including the green parts.
Cilantro and oregano – chopped roughly: I never measure this stuff I just grab a handful or so and give it a good chop and chuck it in. If you don’t like cilantro I suppose you could use parsley but if you don’t like cilantro I have no idea why you would be making Mexican food.
The juice of about two limes: Please use fresh lime juice. Limes are cheap and easy to squeeze so don’t skimp here.
Seasoning: Here’s where I get all freestyle. One warning under no circumstances should you ever heavily salt this dish. The salt will draw the moisture out of everything and turns this into soup and that sucks. Generally I use about teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of chili powder. Feel free to experiment because I do it all the time.
Once everything is chopped and mixed together put in the fridge and leave it alone for a bit. It gives a bit of time for the seasoning to work and makes the dish taste a bit better. You can eat it as soon as you are done and it will be fine. But I think it’s a bit better if it gets a chance to sit for a bit.
So go nuts and eat this on tortillas chips or in a taco or on a taquito.
I personally like this recipe about fifty times better than anything I can get in a store.
