Mexican · Veracruz · sauce/condiment
Salsa Macha de Chile Morita y Cacahuate
Salsa Macha de Chile Morita y Cacahuate reads nutty 5.6, richness 5.2 and heat 5.1 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Mexican · Veracruz sauce/condiment, about 24 hr 36 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.
The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10
- Umami & Savory — 4.1 / 10
- Sweet & Fruity — 1.8 / 10
- Sour & Bright — 4.4 / 10
- Bitter & Earthy — 5.3 / 10
- Rich & Fat — 7.2 / 10
- Aromatic & Spice — 5.7 / 10
The measured notes (of 18)
Nutty 5.6 · Richness 5.2 · Heat 5.1 · Smoke 4.7 · Sourness 4.4 · Allium 4.3 · Salinity 3.6 · Umami 3.1 · Earthy 2.7 · Warm Spice 2.4 · Sweetness 1.5 · Funk & Ferment 1.5 · Bitterness 1.4 · Herbaceous 0.9 · Fruity 0.8
What's in it (10)
- oil — 276 g
- chipotle chile — 40 g
- dried arbol chiles — 30 g
- guajillo chiles — 20 g
- peanuts — 100 g
- sesame seeds — 40 g
- garlic — 24 g
- apple cider vinegar — 30 g
- salt — 10 g
- grated piloncillo — 5 g
Time & effort: about 24 hr 36 min (10 min active) · effort: medium
Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 415.5 kcal, 11.9 g protein, 30.3 g fat, 27.7 g carbs
Dietary: Vegan — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.
How it's cooked (8 steps)
- Salsa macha is a chile oil, not a salsa in the wet sense, and the whole craft of it is heat control. Everything goes into the same oil in the order of how long it can stand the heat.
- Warm the oil to about 130°C — a peanut dropped in should fizz lazily, not spit.
- Fry the garlic 3 minutes until pale gold, then lift it out. Fry the peanuts 3 minutes until they smell roasted, and lift those out too.
- Toast the sesame in the oil 2 minutes until it just begins to colour, then take the pan off the heat entirely before the chiles go anywhere near it.
- Add the moritas, árboles and guajillos to the off-heat oil and swirl them 30 to 45 seconds — that is all. They will darken and turn glossy and smell like a bonfire. Ten seconds more and they are bitter, and bitter macha cannot be rescued.
- Let the whole thing cool 20 minutes, then blend it coarse with the vinegar, salt and piloncillo. It should stay gritty and separated, with a layer of red oil sitting above the solids — never smooth.
- Jar it and leave it a day before you eat it. The flavour keeps opening up for about a week.
- Substitutions: a mild olive oil can stand in for the neutral oil.
Dishes with a similar flavor shape
- Calçots amb Romesco — Spanish
- Chicken Mole Enchiladas — Mexican
- Moroccan Chickpea Stew With Quinoa — Moroccan
- Kadhi Pakora (Yogurt Curry with Gram Flour Fritters) — Indian · Punjab
- Anticuchos de Corazon — Peruvian
Keep reading: what nutty, richness, heat mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.
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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.