Like today.
So today I would like to introduce you to a new way of making salsa. Well, it is new for most people I know. But actually it is the oldest way (that I know of) to make salsa. Anything involving volcanic rocks is pretty old-school in my opinion.
So of what am I speaking of? Any guesses?
I am of course talking about the Mocajete! You do have one lying around your house, right? I mean what house would be complete without one? I will admit that after receiving this Mexican version of a mortal and pestle as a wedding gift, it took nine months and a trip to Oaxaca before I could persuade myself to start using it. It just looked hard and difficult and, well, the blender method is so much easier. And my mother-in-law uses the blender ~ she is a great Mexican cook, so the blender is the way to go, right? Alright, in reality she also uses the mocajete a lot, too.
I think what finally convinced me was that on our trip to Oaxaca I realized that mocajetas are not that hard to use and it really does not take that long. And I realized that my husband had a point when he said that certain salsas made in the mocajeta are more delicious than those made in the blender. (Trust me, some salsas, like those made with dried chiles, are way better to do in the blender. No one wants to labor over the mocajete trying to turn dry, papery chiles into a creamy salsa.)
It was really in Oaxaca in the house of my husband's great-aunt that I saw that both options, the blender and the mocajete, have different but very important roles in salsa-making. So I would encourage you to try both.
Now... getting back to the mocajete....
Once you have your brand-new and lovely mocajete you need to season it before you can use it for making salsa. Anyone like eating little bits of volcanic rock? No? Then we need to knock all those bits off the inside of the mocajete so we have a nice, smooth surface to make our salsa.
The basic technique of seasoning a mocajete is to grind rice (or salt or raw garlic) in the mocajete until the rice stops turning grey. My husband very kindly was the one who did the grunt work (trust me, this took some some elbow grease) and it took at least five times of going through the process of adding rice, grinding it, and cleaning the mocajete for the rice to stay nice and white after the grinding. Personally, I think the work passed quickly for him as he was dreaming about all the delicious salsa I would make for him once he was done.
People will do all sorts of things for delicious salsa.
Which reminds me of a story I think I related once about my Mother-in-law's amazing salsa... in which my brother-in-law´s wife told me that one of the reasons she was interested in my brother-in-law was due to his mom´s salsa.
See? Learn to make great salsa and who knows what will happen.
Once you have your lovely mocajete, rinse it off and add about 1/4 cup of rice in the center. You might want to also add about a tablespoon of water as well.
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| Start the grinding process |
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| Grind until the rice has turned into a grey powder |
Clean out the rice and repeat until the rice is no longer turning grey. Then you have your nice mocajete ready for use!
A couple of notes:
1) I used rice for this process, but you can also use salt or garlic cloves to give more of a "flavor" to your mocajete.
2) I read that in the US you can buy really cheap "mocajetes" that are made out of concrete rather than volcanic rock. These are only good for decorations and should not be used to prepare salsa. The reason is that even if you repeat this process 10 times, you will still have grey rice and if you make salsa in them, the salsa will be gritty.
Trust me, the blender method is better than gritty salsa.
Happy cooking!
Kim
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