Sue's Mexican Table Salsa

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 10 dried new mexico chiles
• 10 dried arbol chiles
• 3 dried guajillo chilies
• 1 dried ancho chile
• 1 quart boiling water
• 1/2 large sweet onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons salt, to taste
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
• 1 fresh habanero pepper, seeded and minced

Recipe

• 1 about one hour before, tear off the stems and any woody part from the dried chiles.
• 2 shake out all the seeds, and tear them up (like you are ripping up an evil credit card) and place them into a heatproof bowl.
• 3 cover torn chiles with the 4 cups boiling water (make sure they are covered well- add more boiling water if needed).
• 4 weigh the top of the chiles down with a heatproof plate (just to make sure they stay submerged).
• 5 allow them to soften in the hot water for about 1 hour.
• 6 using a slotted spoon, remove the chiles from the water, but do not discard the water (set it aside for now).
• 7 place the softened chiles in a blender or food processor, along with the chopped 1/2 onion, salt, garlic, red wine vinegar, and lime juice.
• 8 puree mixture until smooth, adding 3/4-1 cup of the reserved soaking liquid to get the consistency you like (discard any liquid you don't need or save it to cook with rice).
• 9 pour pureed salsa into a bowl, and stir in the minced chiles (protect your hands if you want with gloves while mincing) (use habanero, jalapeno or whatever kind you like or have) and chopped cilantro.
• 10 if you have not protected your hands with gloves while mincing the hot chiles, wash them several times with dishwashing liquid to help remove some of the volatile oils.
• 11 and don't rub your eyes.
• 12 the salsa may get hotter as it sits for awhile with those minced chiles, so consider that when deciding how many chiles to use.
• 13 adjust seasonings for salt (if necessary) and serve with warmed chips or over food.