I am always looking for beet recipes. I read this combination of beets, orange, mint, cheese and salsa macha on a menu somewhere and wrote it down so I could prepare it. Everything here is easy but I had to learn how to make salsa macha. I studied several recipes and they all were somewhat similar but also were different. Salsa Macha is basically a rich Chile oil from Veracruz Mexico. It’s basically made up of chilies, garlic, nuts, and seeds that are fried in oil and then chopped or blended. I picked chef Nud Dudhia’s recipe because I love some of his other salsa recipes. I added four ingredients to his recipe. These ingredients make it pop just a little more and also happen to add a little more shelf life to his recipe. Portion size is difficult to judge. I don’t know if you need a very small amount for a small taco or more to cover a vegetable. I think salsa macha would be delicious on almost any vegetable. This recipe makes around a cup so I’m guesstimating around 6-8 servings.

Ingredients for around 7 servings

1 habanero pepper – (you need to wear glove) – stem removed. quarter it

1 dried pasilla or guajillo chile pepper

1 dried chipote pepper (I used a tablespoon of chipotle flakes)

1/2 star anise

2 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 oz peanuts

1 Tablespoon jalapeno brine (only use homemade or just add plain vinegar)

2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon honey

Directions

Heat up the oil in either another pan or in a microwavable dish in the microwave oven (about 90 seconds in microwave)

Toast the chiles, garlic, cumin seeds , habanero, and star anise in a dry pan on medium high till the pan gets fragrant.

Add the heated oil and let it cook up for a few minutes. Then add remaining ingredients (brine, sesame seeds, peanuts, salt, and honey. You can take it off the heat. If using a stick blender you can transfer to your blending container and blend. If you are using a traditional blender then you should wait till it cools off and then blend.

ENJOY! Use the salsa macha however you like.

A Special THANKS!!!!!! To chef Nud Dudhia for sharing his FORKING Amazing recipe so I could come up with what I got here.