Mango Habanero Salsa

So maybe I'm a little late getting into the mango-habanero game, but this salsa turned out great and even won a small competition in the Best Overall and Best Spicy categories. This stuff has some serious bite to it, but the mango makes it very forgiving. It gets in your mouth, starts off with a strong sweetness and then the burn creeps in, then up your nose, and then it goes into your eyes (then at some point little habanero pepper demons creep into your brain and kick it around for a while) then the sweetness takes back over and your reach for another chip. It sounds like a horrific experience, but I assure you, it is worth it. It's packed with flavor and will be a contender no matter what you serve it with. It's nice on a chip, chicken or fish. I've even eaten it on a burrito and it was awesome!

Finished product

Mango Habanero Salsa

Ingredients

-4 Ripe Tomatoes, quartered (Large plums. Not beefsteaks unless you pulled them off the vine yourself)

-3 Ripe Mangos, peeled, pitted and cut into hearty chunks

-1 Small Red (purple) Onion, quartered (they are sweeter and you'll thank me for it later when the Habanero demons are kicking your brain)

-1 Habanero Pepper (or two in the winter months when the peppers aren't so potent) or 2 Dried Habanero Peppers (don't discount the dried, they'll burn just as hot, they're just not as fruity as the fresh. If you do use the dried, add 1/2 a yellow pepper to the mix to make up for lack of fruitiness of the dried habanero).

-1/2 of a Lime's worth of lime juice

-1 Bunch of fresh Cilantro, finely chopped

-2 Tbsp (or to taste) of Sugar in the Raw (regular sugar will work but it just doesn't have that earthy flavor that helps blend flavors so well). This will also help add a ripe mango flavor to the salsa if your mangos aren't so ripe.

 -1Tbsp of kosher salt (or to taste) (if you are going to consume the salsa immediately, I would use a finer salt that will dissolve more quickly)

Method

-Place quartered tomatoes in a food processor and chop until you have the desired consistency. Don't make it paste, but don't leave them chunky either. Think Mexican restaurant, not pico de gallo. Empty processed tomatoes into a large mixing bowl.

-If using dried habaneros, scoop up about 1 cup of tomatoes and let your dried peppers soak in it while you prep the rest of your recipe. There is enough water in the tomatoes to rehydrate your peppers and wake them up a bit.

Place pieces of mango into the food processor and chop to same consistency as the tomatoes. Add to mixing bowl.

-Chop the onion in the food processor to a slightly chunkier consistency than the tomatoes and add to mixing bowl

Red and orange habanero varieties

-Place the habanero pepper in the food processor and pulverize it. You want that thing as destroyed as possible. It will prevent you from getting a big ol' chunk of hellfire on your tongue while other bites taste like a dessert topping. It will help the salsa blend better. ***I highly recommend using a pair of latex gloves when handling high-powered peppers or else you next trip to the bathroom could result in a very painful situation***

-If you're using the dried habaneros, place the tomato soak, the dried peppers and the recommended yellow bell pepper in the processor and destroy.

-Use a chefs knife to finely chop your cilantro and toss it on top of the pile. I like a lot of cilantro. It seems to cool things off in the same way that sour cream might in a taco. I like a lot, but you can adjust to your liking.

-Add the lime juice, Sugar in the Raw and salt to the bowl. Fold it all together with a rubber spatula.

You can eat it right away, but I HIGHLY recommend saving it in the fridge for the next day. When you let something this volatile sit overnight, it will come together very nicely and the stages that I talked about in the introduction will blend and meld into each other--each providing an introduction for the next stage. If you don't let it sit overnight, it will, instead, hit you like the cars in the opening scene of Meet Joe Black.

Enjoy and let me know how your salsa turns out.

Also, to celebrate the first official NEW recipe of this blog, here is a video of me eating a raw habanero pepper.