Suggestions for a salsa recipe

Hi folks, I need guidance on making a salsa. I have lots of chillis ripe on the vines at the moment, and still more hanging up in ristras. Cayennes, habaneros (red and yellow), anaheim, wildfire, bell peppers, and the tomatoes are in season and fruiting hard as well.

Now, I don't have the ability to cold smoke (so following satan's salsa is out I'm afraid), but I could hot smoke briefly.

I've never made a salsa, and a good salsa is very rarely seen in NZ, so I'm hoping to gather some advice here. I'd like to make something really chunky, and just inside the border of too hot to have as a dip for tortilla chips.

I have all the other suspects for ingredients, corriander, spring onions, etc etc.

Any thoughts?

Yeah I think I'll be giving the habanero seeds a miss. I'm too fond of my palete :)

I'll see how I go. I'm not really very familiar with canning so I'm not sure how much cooking to expect during the process. We'll see I guess!

Cheers

If I freeze (which is actually pretty appealing) I'll have to cook for a bit first though, right?

Unfortunately, the timetable of availability from the garden doesn't allow for smoking and soaking in vinegar, I wish it did! Maybe I'll do some anyway and put it away for a future batch.

You can make fresh salsa for use the same day with fresh ingredients and keep it in the fridge for a couple weeks. Not sure about freezing, think the onions and tomatoes might go off and soft.

Here is my basic salsa recipe that I use.  I vary it by adding different types and amounts of chilis; habaneros, tabascos and bhut jolokias from Rivet, chipotles, smoked habs, etc.  This is the type of salsa that is commonly served in Mexican restaurants here in the States and is a cooked salsa that both cans and freezes well.

2 1/2 teaspoons dried cilantro or 1/4 finely chopped cup fresh cilantro (I use fresh as it has a brighter flavor)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon white vinegar
juice of 1 lime
5 - 22 oz cans of whole tomatoes
1/4 cup minced fresh garlic
3/4 cup canned jalapeno slices, drained

In a large stockpot combine the cilantro, cumin, salt, lime juice and vinegar and set aside.  Puree two cans of the tomatoes, the garlic, the jalapeno slices, and any additional chilis you are using in a blender and add to the pot.  Chop the remaining tomatoes and add them along with their juice to the pot.  Cook over low heat (bring to a low boil and then cut back the heat) for 30 minutes.  Ladle into pint jars and either process in pressure cooker, cold pack for 40 minutes, or freeze.

Like I said this is my base recipe and you can add whatever additional peppers you like. You can vary the chunkiness of the final salsa by substituting diced tomatoes for whole, pureeing more or less of the tomatoes, etc. 

Some habaneros are now smoking on ex bourbon oak, with a good few splashes of bourbon on the tray as well. smells pretty yummy!

I sometimes put tomatillos in mine.

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Produce-638/tomatillos.aspx

(Of course, I make my salsa very, very mild. I don't know how well they go with the hotter stuff.)

Haha, I am sorted now, but I'd still love to see it, got14u, the summer is still young :) well, maybe middle aged.