Hot summer days and outdoor entertaining were made for each other. Add this simple and delicious salsa fresca to the mix, and get your friends talking!

This is a fun recipe to create and is easy to throw together at the last minute. It makes a great dip for tortilla chips, but it also adds another layer of flavour to many other dishes. I always use it to add that extra bit of kick to my quesadillas.

If you don’t like your fresca too frisky, just use a little less jalapeño to dial down the heat.

Ingredients

• 2 fresh jalapeño peppers
• 4 vine ripened tomatoes
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 50 - 60 g cilantro paste (approx., to taste)
• juice of 1 lime
• sea salt & coarse ground pepper to taste

Directions

I prefer to chop all the ingredients by hand for this recipe. It takes longer, but somehow, the salsa always tastes better.

1. To ease the pain of all that chopping, gather all the ingredients together on your chopping block beforehand, de-seed the jalapeños and sharpen your favourite chef’s knife. 
2. Finely chop the tomatoes, jalapeños and red onion and add to a medium sized bowl.
3. Add the cilantro paste and mix well. You can use fresh cilantro for this too, but I find the paste adds a more intense flavour. Be sure to taste as you go, and add an extra squeeze of paste if, like me, you like a stronger cilantro flavour.
4. Squeeze in the lime juice, season with salt and pepper to taste, and give it one more stir.

Gather your friends, grab your favourite tortilla chips and enjoy!

Enjoy the full gallery below, taken by Alicja for a step-by-step visual aid.