Favorite Basic Salsa

One of the many adventures I have had in my life was teaching overseas. I got to teach at a school in Seoul, South Korea called Seoul Foreign School. (It's also where I graduated from High School, but I digress...) While there, one of my closest friends and neighbor was Sara Schmidt. Sara is an amazing cook and one of the best things she taught me to make was her recipe for salsa. I've taken her recipe and tweaked it to fit my tastes. The good thing about salsa--you can add just about anything your palate likes! This picky chicky likes her salsa like this:

Ingredients:

1/2 of a medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 jalapenos
1/2 of a poblano pepper
2 (14 oz) cans of diced tomatoes with chiles
2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of southwestern seasoning
(I use this one!)
1/2 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation Instructions:

I have used a handy chopper in the past (similar to this!) but now I use a mini-food processor (like this!). I blitz the onions, garlic, and peppers together and move to a mixing bowl. Then, using the same food processor, I blend (almost to a puree!) two cans of tomatoes along with the cumin, southwestern seasoning, sugar and salt and pepper. Once I like the consistency, I add the tomatoes to the onions, garlic, and peppers and mix well. (I generally go light on the salt to begin with because I taste test with salted corn chips!) Adjust seasoning--you may want more cumin or more salt/pepper.

I have been known to add the following ingredients to my basic salsa to jazz it up:

corn
black beans
cilantro
bell peppers (or any other type of favorite peppers!)
Roasted tomatoes (instead of the tomatoes with chiles)


Let me know how your version of this picky chicky's salsa turns out!