Tropical Salsa

(picture: Seitan paillard with tropical salsa and millet)

Our chef friend Ian makes a lot of fresh salsas. Eating his variations so often has had an impact on my love of salsa variations. Today I wanted to make a sweet and sour salsa for on my seitan paillards. This salsa has a lot of different flavors but they all blend well. I love the temperature contrast of a cold salsa on a warm entrée. I added the jarred hot crushed peppers to this salsa since the jalapeno didn’t add enough “heat”.

Salsa is great on seitan, tofu, or vegetables. This would also be good with pita or chips. If you like fried food this would be wonderful with crispy plantain chips. Here is the salsa version I made tonight.

Tropical Salsa
Serves 6

Ingredients:

¼ red onion, finely minced
3 clementines, supremed
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely minced
½ cup fresh pineapple, finely minced
¼ cup grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise and sliced into small half moons
juice from one lime
¼ cup fresh cilantro, minced
½ tablespoon hot crushed peppers, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the salsa ingredients in a large bowl and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as desired. Refrigerate until needed.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 32.37
Calories From Fat (4%) - 1.24

Total Fat - 0.15g
Saturated Fat - 0.01g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 49.59mg
Potassium - 124.07mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.46g
Fiber - 1.45g
Sugar - 5.04g
Protein - 0.66g

Comments:

If you like to add freshness to cooked foods I think you will like this fruit salsa. It is flavorful, sweet, tart and fresh. The cilantro adds a nice bright freshness to the salsa. I could eat this stuff by the spoonful all by itself. However, it is nice with the contrast of the hot seitan.

That is going to be it for me today. I am going to work on menu possibilities for Thanksgiving. I got some input tonight from my parents and the hubby. The final menu will depend on what the organic farmers have tomorrow at the market. However, I like to have the number of dishes determined and a rough outline of what I will be making. The more items I can buy locally the happier I am. Hopefully I will be able to buy all the veggies I need tomorrow at the farm market. I will be posting my Thanksgiving menu just a soon as I finalize it. Have a great evening everyone!