Mexican Molcajete Sauce

A molcajete is a stone tool similar to a mortar and pestle; traditionally, this sauce would be made in one, and then even served right from it! Luckily, you can also make it at home by finely mincing with a knife and a cutting board. The trio of veggies in this sauce are the colors of the Mexican flag - red, white, and green!

Cut a small in onion in half, and peel, leaving the root intact. Cut one half of the onion into quarters; save the other half for another use.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion quarters, 3 whole serrano chiles, 2 whole plum tomatoes, and 1 whole peeled garlic clove; cook until blackened, turning frequently. Although the original recipe said this step would take 5 minutes, I gave mine a couple minutes extra.



Let cool, then trim the root from the onion wedges and discard the roots. Core the tomatoes (I also scooped out some of the seeds). I assumed I was also meant to discard the chile stems!

Finely minced the onion, the chiles, and the tomatoes together, going back and forth until you have a mixture that is almost paste-like. The original recipe also neglected to say what to do with the garlic clove, so I included it along with the other veggies. Once fully mashed, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. coarse salt, and stir well.



You'll have about 1 cup of the resulting sauce. Since the original recipe suggested this would be great over chicken, I bought the Cluck-phrey fake chicken patties from Food for Life, which I found quite good. 1/4 cup of sauce is 30 calories.

Cost:
onion $0.26
serrano chiles $0.25
plum tomatoes $0.62