A vibrant Mexican salsa fresca with a secret ingredient - MSG.
Mythic Pico de Gallo
In addition to the usual tomatoes, onion, chilies and lime, a dash of MSG boosts the savory umami flavor. The salsa has the perfect balance of freshness, spice and savoriness. Great for dipping chips or spooning over tacos.
Ingredients
- 1 big red tomato
- 3 large limes
- 0.5 large red onion
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 2 jalapeños
- 2 serranos
- 1 nub of ginger root (about half the size of your pinky fingernail)
- 3 hand pinches of salt
- 3 hand pinches of black pepper
- 1/3 tsp of MSG
Directions
- Finely dice everything except for the limes, tomato, and ginger. Dice the tomato regularly. Chop the ginger as finely as possible, almost to the point it becomes a paste.
- Soak the diced tomatoes in the MSG diluted in water for a few minutes. Before that, dry the cubes with paper towels so they absorb as much as they can. Mix them around to get a nice coating.
- Combine everything you chopped into a bowl and mix it with your hands. Distribute the semi-paste ginger evenly.
- Juice all the limes into the bowl. With one lime, you want to gut as much of the lime and not the bitter membrane.
- Finally, add the salt and pepper and mix it around again.
- You can skip the ginger and substitute the MSG for more salt but the dilution and application to the tomato is a must. The ginger is experimental but has received nothing but compliments so far. You also don’t need to add as many peppers or you can exclude the innards and seeds so it’s not as spicy while retaining the skin. All other ingredients are authentic and have been approved by Mexicans.