Salsa Macha with Cashews and Nigella Seeds

Life Changing May Sound Like an Overstatement. It is Not.

To say we’ve been eating a lot of this lately is not remotely telling the tale. Ever since making this for the first time a few months ago, I’ve been tinkering with it and each version has been better than the last. We can’t get enough of it. This is no exaggeration. 

This is my take on Mexican Salsa Macha. Believed to have possibly originated in the Veracruz area of Mexico, the basics of the recipe are oil, dried chilies, garlic, and typically sesame seeds. Other ingredients are added, depending on the individual cook, such as peanuts, fresh chilies, etc. Don’t let the salsa in the title throw you. It doesn’t resemble what many of us commonly think of as salsa. This is closer to a chili crisp, but very very different. 

Please keep in mind that I’ve added some atypical ingredients and make no claim to any kind of authenticity. There are as many different recipes for traditional salsa macha as there are cooks and this is my untraditional take.

For my final version, I like Rick Martinez’s technique of adding nuts and whole garlic cloves to room temperature oil and cooking them until the garlic starts to take on some color. I really take my time with this because I want no raw garlic flavor in the sauce. I test the garlic to be sure it’s fully softened all the way through. After trying it with a couple different kinds of nuts, my son suggested cashews. I use a full cup of cashews in 2 cups oil, so the flavor and texture of the nuts is definitely discernible in the end result and cashews gave me just what I wanted.

Dried, seeded and torn up chilies are then added to the pot, which has been taken off the heat, and only left in the hot oil for 30 to 45 seconds – just until the chilies are fragrant and the oil has taken on color from the chilies. I then stirred in nigella seeds .* There are different ways to go as to the types of chilies used. While many times only chipotles are used, I chose to use mostly guajillos ,* while adding a couple of morita chipotles * for a little smokiness. I also prefer it only medium spicy, so I added 4 chilies de arbol. I made it once with more of the hot chilies and thought they overpowered the other flavors, but you can add more or less, depending on what heat level you prefer. 

The solids are then placed in the bowl of a food processor and allowed to cool for about 10 minutes, before adding salt and dried oregano, and blitzing until the mixture is coarsely ground, then the oil is streamed in. 

I saw where several people add a little sugar, brown sugar, and/or vinegar to theirs and tried it, but by far the most delicious and interesting was Rick Martinez’s addition of dried sweetened cranberries. I added enough to give it a hint of tart/sweet flavor, but not to overwhelm it. And while I thought it was good, I also thought it could use more depth, so I tossed in a few pitted prunes, pulsed it until everything was pretty finely chopped and gave it a taste. This was it. The salsa was now as good as I could possibly imagine it to be.

As you can see, the texture is close to a chili crisp, but there are no actual crispy things in it, and the flavor is much more versatile. The garlic has been cooked until it is sweet and mild, the chilies are the prominent flavor and that’s why I like the mild fruitiness of guajillos ,* whereas the moritas * add a smoky complexity. After being cooked in oil, the cashews are deeply flavored and are fantastic in both their nutty sweetness and their crunchiness, while the nigella seeds * mostly remain whole, so they provide additional crunchiness, not to diminish their warmly spiced flavor.

Let me just say that besides eating this by the spoonful, which is amazingly easy to do, I’ve yet to find anything it doesn’t blend with beautifully. The obvious way to eat it is to spoon it onto bread . This way you get the full impact of the salsa.

But the cranberries and prunes are what take this over the top. As I mentioned, even though there are 3/4 cup of cranberries and 1/4 cup of prunes this, the salsa is much more savory than sweet. Just be sure to taste for seasoning at the end and make sure you’ve got enough salt to balance and enhance all the flavors. It’s a combination of flavors and textures that is hard to describe. 

But I’ve also spooned it onto pan fried chicken, slices of roast turkey, steak, pork chops, and corn bread. I’ve even eaten it on pizza. I think the possibilities are almost endless. You can use only the solids which sink to the bottom or stir it up in the oil or only use some of the beautifully flavored oil for drizzling on vegetables. We’ve eaten several quarts so far. I’ve now made my final version twice and it’s already time to replenish and make another batch.

One of my family members isn’t much of a fan of chili crisp and seeing as how this looks very similar, he wasn’t particularly enthused when I presented this to him. One bite was all it took. He now asks for it if it’s not on the table. He treats it like a condiment and spoons it on top of potatoes, rice, etc. Yeah, we’re all kind of crazed when it comes to this glorious stuff. It’s not often I run into a foodstuff that actually changes the way we eat, but this salsa macha has done just that. Please. Make it. You’ll see what I mean.