I love making salsa and one of my favorites is a charred tomatillo salsa that is really simple to make. It’s a perfect match for chips and beer on a hot humid Puerto Vallarta afternoon.

The recipe requires few ingredients and it should take you about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Salsa Ingredients:

• 1 pound of tomatillos
• 2 Serrano or jalapeno chiles with the seeds removed cut into strips
• 1 cup of coarsely chopped onions
• 1 cup of loosely packed cilantro
• 1 lime for juice
• Salt to taste
• Variation: add 2 charred cloves of garlic

The measurements are not really set in stone. You can add more chiles or onions to taste. Some extra lime juice will give the salsa a brighter sharper taste.

To make the salsa:

Place the tomatillos, chopped onions, chile strips in a preheated oiled pan to char the vegetables. Keep the heat medium high and turn the vegetables continually until they are blackened all over. Charring the vegetables really adds to the flavor.

After you have charred the vegetables, add them to the blender with the cilantro, lime juice, and salt to taste.

Blend the salsa coarsely. The salsa should have some body. You want to be able to see flecks of cilantro and bits of onion.

The finished salsa. Great stuff. I usually just make the salsa to eat with a big bowl of chips. When I am feeling more ambitious I put the salsa over a sauteed fish filet.

Two tomatillo salsa recipes you might like:

My Mexican Table Salsa Recipe

Chicken Breasts With Tomatillo Salsa Recipe Provided by Mexican Foodie

Tomatillo Salsa Recipe

Every time we go to the Soriana shopping center near Pitillal we always stop to order gorditas at Gorditas Dona Tota.

If you are not familiar with gorditas, they are thick disks made from corn meal that are split open and filled with an infinite variety of stews and shredded meats. You can find them throughout Mexico.

Gorditas Dona Tota is a franchised chain that was founded in Ciudad Victoria in the state of Taumalipas. The chain operates in almost every state in Mexico and has recently begun expansion into the U.S. Currently, they have six locations in Texas. Puerto Vallarta has only one location.

My three favorite gorditas from Dona Tota: picadillo (ground beef), carnitas en salsa verde (pork in green salsa), and rajas con queso (Poblano chile and cheese). I’m stuffed after just three.

Prices are very reasonable. Each gordita costs between $7.00 and $8.00 pesos which is about $.55 US at the current exchange rate.

The mall, where you will find Gorditas Dona Tota, is located just south of Pitillal on Francisco Villa. The mall is also home to Cinepolis, a great multiplex movie theatre that plays first-run movies in English.

More Mexican Fast Food You Might Like:

Best Tacos in Puerto Vallarta

Good Street Tacos

Famous Tamales