How to Make Fresh, Authentic, Restaurant Style Salsa at Home

Ever visit a Mexican restaurant just for the chips and salsa they bring out before the meal?  It's probably nothing like the salsas you buy from the chips aisle in the grocery store.  The reason the salsa from the restaurant tastes fresher is that it is fresher.  The good news is, you can make your own salsa in small batches that will stay tasting fresh for at least a few days--probably longer than you can keep from using your chips to scoop it all up.

You'll need a food processor to blend all this together.

First you'll want to make sure you have a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder.  If you don't have these things you should buy a large container and keep it because you'll use them to make lots of things in the kitchen.

You'll probably have to go to the grocery store to get the following:

• (2) 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
• Small jar of pickled, sliced jalapenos
• Cilantro

The diced tomatoes and pickled jalapenos are in the aisle with canned vegetables.  I have tried the pureed tomatoes but the diced tomatoes seem to hold the best taste.  Pickled jalapeños are good because you can pour the juice in to add to the salsa's spicy flavor.  The cilantro is in the produce aisle.  It has a long skinny stem with small leaves.  At my grocery store it is sold in bundles of around 50-100 stems.  It is pretty cheap so having a lot is not a bad thing.

Put the two cans of tomatoes in the food processor and add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder.  Take five to ten stems of cilantro and pull the leaves off.  Throw away the stems and add the leaves to the mix.  Use a spoon to scoop out some jalapeños and juice and drop them in the food processor also.  The jalapenos can be added to taste but 15 slices is a good point to either add or subtract from.  Add more to take it up a notch or add less to keep it cool.

Blend all this up for about 30 seconds and pour it into a serving container straight away or put it in some tupperware to store in the fridge.  Grab some of your favorite chips and chow down.

When you want to make more you will only need to buy more tomatoes because the jalapeños and cilantro should last for a few batches at least.  The most expensive part of making salsa is, ironically, buying the chips with which to eat it.  I recommened the flour tortilla chips or whatever restaurant-style tortilla chip you like most.