I love Mexican salsa verde, the kind made with slightly tart tomatillos. It’s a very versatile salsa. You can throw everything in a blender raw, blend, and serve, or you can roast over an open fire. The most common method is to blister on a plancha (flat grill) or dry pan.
It can be served on the side, or a protein can be simmered in the salsa. Pork is the favored protein since the fatty pork plays well with the tart salsa. But we need to keep this recipe gout friendly. What we will use today are soy curls. They are gout friendly and easily take on flavors.
This is not my first time to post a salsa verde recipe; the last one was with mushrooms and squash in salsa verde. That one was a raw version, and this one is roasted.
First, we need one pound of tomatillos. I usually buy a little extra in case they have some ugly spots hiding behind the paper-like husk. After removing the husk, you will notice that they are sticky. Please give them a good wash to remove the sticky stuff.
If you can find some that have lighter areas, buy more mature ones and not as tart. But the dark green ones are still good. If you happen to find purple ones, they are then best.
This is my easy / cheat method. To cook everything on a plancha, you can spend thirty minutes or so standing over the stove, moving them around, etc. I cut them up and roast them in the oven. This is a small batch so that we can use the toaster oven.
Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil, silicone mat, or parchment paper. Apply a thin layer of oil (I used 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil). If you use a silicone mat, you will not need any oil.
Cut up the tomatillos and place them on the sheet pan. Add the peppers and two cloves of garlic still in the peel. For peppers, my preference is serranos. They do tend to be spicy; you may like another kind of pepper. No reason to make it so spicy you will not enjoy the dish. Or you may like it even spicier.
Place in the oven until everything is soft (mine took twenty-five minutes). Move to the top rack and broil until black spots appear (mine took five minutes).
Take out of the oven a let cool. Place everything into a blender with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 Cup of vegetable stock. Include any juice that is cooked out of the tomatillos. Blend until smooth. BTW I did leave out the serrano pepper seeds.
Soy curls, as the name implies, are made from soy. They come dried, so storage is very simple. For this recipe, we are using the larger pieces. The very small pieces and dust in the bag make great breading. They are a very versatile gout friendly meat substitute. They were used in this recipe is for pan fried noodles with soy curls.
Today’s recipe calls for one cup of dried soy curls. But first, they need to be rehydrated. To rehydrate them, cover them with water and wait about thirty minutes to one hour. The package says ten minutes, but I like to let them go longer. These soaked for thirty minutes then I squeezed the excess water out of them. Squeezing the water out removes the funny taste and will help them brown.
Letting them air dry for a few minutes will also help them brown.
Our salsa verde, soy curls, and cilantro are standing by and ready. We will also need oil and 1/3 cup of diced onion. For oil, I used cold-pressed olive oil. As to cilantro, I love it, but if you do not, then feel free to leave it out.
On medium heat, add one Tablespoon olive oil, 1/3 cup diced onion, and the rehydrated soy curls. Cook until the soy curls take on some color.
Add the salsa verde and simmer for three minutes. Taste and see if you need to add salt—Cook for two more minutes or five minutes in total.
Turn off the heat and add the cilantro. I used about 1/3 of a cup. Mix and let the residual heat cook the cilantro. Heat some tortillas until they get some brown spots, and you are ready to serve.
Ingredients
Salsa Verde
- 1 pound tomatillos
- 2 each serrano peppers
- 2 cloves garlic skin on
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 Cup vegetable stock
Soy Curls
- 1 Cup soy curls
- 2 Cups water
Other
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/3 Cup onion diced
- 1/3 Cup cilantro
Instructions
Salsa Verde
- Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil, silicone mat or parchment paper. Apply a thin layer of oil (I used 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil).
- Cut up the tomatillos and place them on the sheet pan. Add the serrano peppers and two cloves of garlic still in the peel.
- Place in the oven until everything is soft (mine took twenty five minutes).
- Move to the top rack and broil until black spots start to appear (mine took five minutes).
- Take out of the oven a let cool.
- Place everything into a blender with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Blend until smooth.
Rehydrate the Soy Curls
- Plce the soy curls in a bowl.
- Cover with water for thirty minutes.
- Squeeze out excess water.
- Allow to air dry until needed
Cook
- On medium heat add one Tablespoon of olive oil, 1/3 Cup diced onion and the rehydrated soy curls. Cook until the soy curls take on some color.
- Add the salsa verde and simmer for three minutes. Taste and see if you need to add salt. Cook for two more minutes or five minutes in total.
- Turn off the heat and add the cilantro. I used about 1/3 of a cup. Mix and let the residual heat cook the cilantro.
