Family Recipe: Quick Mango Margaritas, Salsa Roja & Salsa Verde - Indian Style

Image Source: Gonzaloh's Flickr Photostream

There is no doubt that Mexican food is not as popular in Mumbai as we would like. There are a few restaurants in the western suburbs that do a good job but are hard to get to for the rest of Mumbai. Our cook's recipe of salsa, although a little indianized, goes well with tortilla chips and some chilled mangoritas. Salute!

Quick Mangorita
Ingredients

1. Pepsi's Slice Mango Drink - 100 ml per person
2. Lemon juice - 10 ml per person
3. Tequila - 25 ml per person
4. Ice - 5 cubes per person
5. Salt, for the serving glass rim

Preparing the Mangorita

1. Take a plate with some salt.
2. Lightly wet the rims of all the serving glasses
3. Invert each of the glasses onto the plate and rotate them to get the salt to stick to their rims.
4. Take a big bowl. Fill it with the ice cubes.
5. Add the mango drink, juice from the lemons and the tequila. Mix well for a minute to make sure its chilled.
6. Pour the drink directly into each of the glasses. Do not let the drink wash down the salt on the rims.

Recommendations
You can decorate the glass with slices of limes, cherries on a toothpick, umbrellas etc. Although the alcohol content can go from 15% to 30% in any margarita, we would recommend 25% of a high-quality tequila.

Salsa Roja (Red Salsa)

Ingredients

1. Oil - 1 teaspoon
2. Tomatoes - 7
3. Green Chilly, finely chopped - 1
4. Capsicum, finely chopped - 1
5. Onion, finely chopped - 1
6. Garlic cloves, finely chopped - 5
7. Tomato ketchup - 250 grams
8. Vinegar - 1 tbsp
9. Red chili powder - 5 tbsp
10. Salt, to taste
11. Cilantro, to garnish 

Preparing salsa roja 

1. Boil tomatoes, peel the skin and chop them into small pieces
2. Heat oil
3. Sauté the onion and capsicum pieces 
4. Add all the other ingredients and mix well for 2 minutes 
5. Transfer the salsa to a bowl. Allow it to cool for 30 minutes and the refrigerate it.

Salsa Verde (Green Salsa)

Ingredients

1. Oil - 2 tbsp
2. Tomatillos (Green Tomatoes) finely chopped - 5
3. Capsicum, chopped - 1
4. Garlic cloves - 5
5. Green chilies, chopped - 5
6. Vinegar - 1 tbsp
7. Peanuts - 5
8. Cilantro - 3 tbsp
9. Salt, to taste

Preparing salsa verde

1. Heat oil
2. Sauté capsicum, garlic, tomatillos, chillies, salt and peanuts for 2 minutes. Allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
3. Transfer the mixture into a blender. Add vinegar and cilantro. Blend on pulse setting to make a chunky mix.

Recommendations 
Both the salsas lasts for about 2 days, when refrigerated. In addition to tortilla chips, the salsa tastes great with homemade fried banana chips.

Chips-Salsa and Margarita places we love: Zocalo (Boston), Border Cafe (Cambridge), Chili's (Powai, Mumbai), Taco Fresco (Khar, Mumbai)