Honesty is the best policy, right? So, honestly, this isn’t the easiest recipe to make. It’s actually a bit of a pain in the arse. But, honestly, it’s worth the effort. Once you get past grating the tomatoes and pushing the mixture through a sieve, you’ll see why the end result is worth the culinary exertion. And while your taste buds are doing the happy dance, your body will soak up all the healthy, disease-fighting lycopene, phytonutrients, and vitamins A and C.
Ingredients
3 cups grated tomato flesh (about 7 medium tomatoes)
2 tortillas
3 large garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
1 medium jalapeno (seeds and ribs removed – roughly chopped)
1 seedless cucumber (roughly chopped)
1 red bell pepper (seeds removed – roughly chopped)
½ cup roughly chopped basil
1 Haas avocado (diced)
Spices
½ teaspoon hot smoked paprika
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Place the tortillas in a shallow dish of water so they are fully submersed. Let soak for about 10 minutes (or as long as it takes to grate the tomatoes and chop the vegetables).
- Place a coarse grater in a large mixing bowl. Cut the tomatoes in half. With the flesh side on the grater, remove the tomato flesh down to the skin. Transfer tomato flesh to a large capacity food processor or blender.
3. Drain the water from the tortillas and place in the food processor along with all other ingredients (except the avocado and spices). Blend for 3 – 5 minutes until all ingredients are chopped as finely as possible.
4. Place a large sieve over the mixing bowl and, in small batches, place the mixture in the sieve and, using your fingers and knuckles, press all of the liquid out of the mixture. The remaining vegetable flesh can either be discarded or saved to use in soup or pasta sauce.
5. Place the liquid back in the food processor and, one by one, add in the spices, blending well. If you don’t like hot spice, you might want to eliminate the smoked paprika and cayenne, and replace with extra black pepper.
6. Serve chilled with diced avocado.
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