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Thursday 8 March 2012

Pico de Gallo

Many moons ago the range of cuisine that adorned my dinner table was limited to meat and two veg.  Foreign food was limited to either home-made spaghetti bolognese made from canned mince meat, tomato puree and bay leaves; a pizza; or a curried take-away from the local Chinese shop.  No wonder the Brits had a reputation for eating bland food. Today my stomach cringes at the thought.

Then I met Dawn and my taste buds were exposed to pleasures they never knew existed.  In addition to Chinese, there was now Thai food with its coconut milk curries, spicy Indian jalfrezi, paellas, risottos with creamy rice, frogs' legs, raw and fried oysters, crawfish, pulled pork, cornbread, and an assortment of vegetables I'd never heard of let alone eaten. 

However, it was Mexican food that really opened my eyes to the concept that food could be pleasurable, nourishing and eye candy.  And the one dish that captures this more than other is Pico de Gallo.  This simple salad (or salsa, as it is better known) combines a handful of diced ingredients and spices and can compliment an enchilada or taco or another Mexican dish you choose. 

The refreshing tomato and lime juice bring the taste buds to life, while the red onion gives you a bite, the jalapeno adds heat, and the cumin and coriander takes you to exotic lands of warmth only dreamt about on a cold winter day in England. Best of all is that there is no cooking involved.  All you need to do place diced the tomatoes and red onion in a bowl.  Add a finely chop a jalapeno (remove the seeds if you don't want too much heat), squeeze in the juice of a lime, stir in the minced garlic and ground cumin and leave in the fridge for an hour or two (the longer the better) for all the flavours to mingle.
Credit for this recipe must be given to my mother-in-law, Brady Kerr.
Ingredients:
6 Roma tomatoes or two large regular tomatoes diced
1/2 red onion diced
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 comment:

  1. Happy to see the Pico de gallo recipe posted here. We just love it.

    ReplyDelete