Picot de gallo (originally “Picot de Gallo”, which means “rooster's beak” in Spanish) is a hot sauce related to Mexican cuisine. It goes well with Mexican tortillas, meat and fish dishes. It is difficult to confuse with any other sauce, since it resembles a salad of finely chopped vegetables in consistency. It contains the ingredients of three colors: red, white and green, which corresponds to the colors of the Mexican flag. This color combination makes the seasoning colorful. Cooks still do not have a common opinion, because of what the sauce got its name: for a bright color or a burning taste. In order to try an unusual seasoning, it is not necessary to make a trip: picot de gallo sauce can be prepared at home, and it does not take much time.
Cooking Features
The main ingredients of the pico de gallo sauce are tomatoes, onion, pepper and fresh herbs (usually cilantro). They can be supplemented with various seasonings, garlic, lime or lemon juice, oil or other products. The individual nuances of cooking may depend on the specific recipe, but there are a few things that remain the same regardless of the sauce chosen.
- All ingredients for pico de gallo sauce are ground with a knife. Pieces should be made as small as possible, but to resort to using a blender or meat grinder in this case is absolutely unacceptable.
- In order for the sauce to have a delicate texture, tomatoes should be peeled before use. It will be easy to make, if you slit the skin crosswise, lower the vegetables for 2-3 minutes into boiling water and cool. Additionally, you can cut the vegetables in half and remove the sacks of seeds with a spoon - then the consistency of the pico de gallo sauce will be especially tender.
- Mexicans use chili peppers for pico de gallo, but if you want to get seasoning with a milder taste, you can use sweet instead of hot pepper.
- It is necessary to remove the seeds and partitions from the pepper, otherwise the seasoning will be excessively stinging.
- Salt pico de gallo sauce is optional. If you use salt, add it immediately before serving the sauce to the table, otherwise it will become too watery, acquiring an unusual consistency.
- Pico de gallo is made exclusively from fresh vegetables that have not been heat treated. This makes its shelf life short, this seasoning is not harvested for future use.
They serve pico de gallo in a sauce-pot with a spoon, since its consistency does not allow them to water the dishes - it will have to be applied on them.
Classic pico de gallo recipe
Composition:
- tomatoes - 0, 2 kg;
- onions (preferably red) - 100 g;
- lime - 1 pc .;
- fresh herbs (preferably cilantro) - to taste;
- chili pepper - 2 pcs .;
- garlic (optional) - 1 clove;
- salt - a pinch;
- sugar - 2 shchipi;
- olive oil - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Wash tomatoes, cut them crosswise. Dip in boiling water, blanch for 2-3 minutes. Catch with a slotted spoon and transfer to a container filled with cold water to cool the vegetables faster. Clean them up.
- Remove the husks from the bulb. Cut the vegetable into small cubes, fold into a plate.
- Squeeze juice from lime, mix it with salt and sugar.
- Fill the onion with lime juice, leave for 20-30 minutes.
- Wash the peppers, remove the stalks, cut the pods along. Remove the seeds and partitions. Rinse again, pat dry. Chop well with a knife.
- Wash, shake off the greens, allow it to dry, chop finely.
- Crush the garlic with the flat side of the knife, finely chop.
- Finely chop the tomatoes, put in a bowl. Add to them the remaining ingredients. Put the onion with the marinade.
- Add some oil (no more spoons), mix.
It remains to transfer the pico de gallo to the sauce-boat and serve it to the table.
Pico de gallo with Bulgarian pepper
Composition:
- red onion - 100 g;
- tomato - 150 g;
- Bulgarian pepper - 100 g;
- garlic - 2 cloves;
- salt, black pepper, fresh cilantro - to taste;
- grape vinegar (6%) - 10 ml.
Method of preparation:
- Peel the onions, chop finely.
- Boil in tomatoes, peel, cut into small cubes.
- Pepper seeds, cut into small pieces.
- Chop cilantro and garlic finely.
- Put the crushed products in a plate, salt and pepper, pour vinegar.
The picot de gallo sauce prepared according to this recipe is not as sharp as the classic one. If you want to give it a sharp taste, instead of black ground pepper, you can add crushed Chilean pepper powder.
Pico de gallo with avocado
Composition:
- tomatoes - 0, 25 kg;
- lime - 1 pc .;
- avocados - 0, 2 kg;
- red onion - 50 g;
- chili pepper - 10 g;
- garlic - 1-2 cloves;
- fresh greens (cilantro, parsley) - 50 g;
- salt (optional) - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Cut the avocado, remove the bone. Separate the flesh, cut it into small cubes, put in a bowl and mash with a fork.
- Tomatoes boil, peel. Cut the fruit in half, spoon remove the seeds from them. Finely chop the flesh. Put to avocado.
- Chopped onion finely chopped, put to other ingredients.
- Add chili pepper, finely chopped with a knife, and garlic passed through a press.
- Finely chop the prepared greens, pour into a bowl with other products.
- Squeeze lime juice into a bowl. Stir.
Pico de gallo, made according to this recipe, has an exquisite taste and slightly resembles another popular Mexican sauce - guacamole.
Pico de Gallo is a spicy tomato sauce made in Mexico. The composition of the seasoning also includes onions, herbs, pepper, often in its composition include garlic, avocado, lime juice. Pico de gallo has an unusual texture - it resembles a salad of finely chopped vegetables. Vegetables in the composition of this seasoning is always fresh, so that it is not only tasty, but also useful.
