New Zealand, believe it or not, isn’t exactly known for it’s Mexican food.
I know, I know – hard to believe!
Tortilla chips here taste a bit differently, and for the most part, we’ve seen only 1 – 2 brands of salsa on the store shelves. There are smaller specialty stores, but gone are the days of one-stop shopping when it comes to making my taco soup.
As a result, I’ve started making my own salsa. I use a recipe that Kate sent me, which she originally got from a friend {did you follow all that? Good!}. Here’s the finished product…
It was so yummy. I’ll definitely make it again. If you want the original recipe, then click here. I doctored our version for a couple of reasons: (1) I don’t like cilantro, or coriander as it’s referred to here in NZ, so I didn’t buy any during my grocery shopping, (2) I like my salsa a bit spicier with a few “extras” added in, and (3) I wanted to make a bigger batch for guests. If you’d like to make my version, then do {roughly} the following…
Use:
- 2 cans of diced tomatoes {not crushed/flavored}
- 1 large onion, diced
- 6 spicy jalapeno slices from a jar
- Juice of 2 limes {or 4 T lime juice}
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 C fresh corn or frozen corn, thawed
- 3 splashes of Kaitaia Fire or some other hot sauce
Combine all of the above ingredients {except the corn!} in a blender or food processor and mix together. Pour into a bowl and stir in the corn. That’s it! I’m hoping to make some and use it the next time I make Taco Soup.
So what about you? Do you have a favorite salsa recipe or favorite salsa brand? Do you prefer it fresh or straight from the jar?
Just imagine what you could accomplish if you focused all of this negative energy into something productive!
I DONT like you and if you dont like NZ soo much i suggest you go home.
by the way we do eat/ make mexican food i dunno where you are livin shopping but even the hick shops i shop in have most of those things and no not dusty we arent so lazy as you americans seem to be either tho like we can make our own pumpkin puree and icings and dont need everything done for us and put in a can
[…] I like stuff that’s spicy, but I’d rather not give Joe indigestion. I’ll use my homemade salsa in this casserole rather than store-bought, too – it’s much tastier and easy to whip […]
p.s. i emigrated from England to Canada 10 years ago and missed a lot of British food. On the plus side, i now know how to make scotch eggs from scratch, and can also cure bacon and ham (using a dry salt cure that i get shipped over). Learning to make your favourite foods from scratch will help with the home sickness.
My favourite memory was finally perfecting proper scones, and having my yorkshire puddings rise!!
I was wondering … do they have Franks Red Hot Sauce over there, or something equivalent?
I do have a slow cooker chicken taco recipe that doesn’t use salsa. You do need the packages of taco seasoning though.
1 onion, chopped
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn (or 1 c. thawed corn)
1 bottle of beer
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning
1-2 tsp chili powder (and cayenne pepper for heat)
3 chicken breast
water
Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 5 hrs.
THen shred the chicken (i use two forks and pull the breast apart in opposite directions) and cook for a further 2 hours on low, or 1 hour on high.
Top with crushed tacos, chopped avocado, sour cream, and grated cheese.
“I had to blow the dust off the re-fried beans.”
And there are no definitely no soft tortillas in NZ. It is sad.
I’d be afraid to get my hopes up about the “authentic” Mexican restaurant.
I run to the taco stand immediately after landing at LAX.
LOVE this! Sooo making it Monday for my girls night!!!!
From tasting this first-hand, I can attest to it’s greatness. Thanks for the recipe!
i surely do love some good mexican food….this looks wonderful! have a great weekend!
What? NZ isn’t bursting with Mexican culture?! I must have been mislead somewhere. ☺
I love, love, love me some Mexican food…probably my favorite type of food, like ever. Wish I had the skills to make it myself, but I am too lazy to find out. Glad you’re able to whip up a little Mex to hold you over.
YUM! Next on my list of things to make is homemade hummus, but I think I’ll add this salsa to the “to be made” list after that!
Looks delicious! Fresh salsa is always so much better than jarred. Glad you found something to get you through the times you just need a little Mexican!
I absolutely prefer fresh salsa! Unless it’s salsa from Chili’s – OMG they need to sell that!
Pioneer Woman has a fabulous recipe that I always use now where she uses both Rotel and plain crushed tomatoes. So yummy!