Maybe you’ll find this hard to believe considering how much I clearly adore food, but once upon a time I was a very fussy eater. I grew up really not liking much. I can remember just wanting to eat jacket potatoes covered in Vitalite spread and cans of vegetable soup, as well as sweets of course.
I’m not really sure exactly what changed, I do remember going over to a friend’s house and her Mum offering me garlic bread which I accepted as I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. I tried it and it was delicious and I think that experience really opened me up to trying new things.
Since my teenage years I’ve slowly expanded my palate and now there’s not a lot of food I don’t like. One of my more recent loves is Mexican inspired flavours and this salsa recipe is such a perfect example of a food I wouldn’t have touched just a few years ago as I certainly didn’t like spicy food. Now I can’t get enough of it!
When I was asked to create a recipe using Melis Pickled Jalapeños I was really excited as jalapeños are a new favourite of mine. I’ve loved adding a few to a chilli or soup, or even popping some into a salad.
When thinking of what to create, I thought of salsa as I really love the jars of salsa you can get in the shops, but unfortunately they are laden with sugar and not very fresh. I’ve not attempted a fresh salsa before as I generally don’t like fresh tomatoes (one of the few things on my dislike list!) but in the spirit of getting out of my comfort zone I thought I’d give them a try.
I’m so, so glad I did because this salsa is delicious!
I’ve paired it with simple sweet potato chips that are perfect for shovelling it into your mouth! The sweet, salty, sharp and spicy flavours in this super healthy, bright and colourful recipe just have to be tried!
- 1 large sweet potato
- 1 small red onion
- 1 yellow or orange pepper
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tin of black beans
- 1 ripe mango
- 3 heaped tablespoons Melis Pickled Jalapeños
- 1 large bunch fresh coriander
- 1 lime
- Pre-heat oven to 190 / 170 fan. Slice the sweet potato into very thin rounds. Spread out on a couple of baking sheets (they shouldn't overlap) and spray with oil (or add a little coconut oil). Bake for 15 minutes then increase the oven temp to 220 / 200 fan to crisp them up. Keep an eye out that they don't burn. Remove from oven when they've started to crisp up, sprinkle with salt and set aside.
- Finely chop the red onion, pepper and cherry tomatoes and add to a large bowl. Drain the beans and rinse and add to the same bowl.
- Chop the mango flesh into small cubes and add to the bowl.
- Finely chop or mince the pickled jalapeños and add to the bowl
- Finely chop the coriander and add that to the bowl as well.
- Finally, chop the lime in half and squeeze over the juice, add a good pinch of salt and mix everything together.
- Serve alongside the sweet potato chips and enjoy!
- The salsa will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.
The Melis Jalapeños are a brilliant product, they have great taste and flavour and work so well in this recipe. You can find them in the UK stocked at Tesco and Asda as well as Bakkalim.
As well as serving with sweet potato chips, the salsa is delicious with regular corn chips, blue corn chips or would make a great topping for a baked sweet potato.
Are you a fan of Mexican cuisine and flavours? Have you made fresh salsa before?
*recipe in collaboration with Melis
I remember literally only eating egg and chips at my friend’s house. That’s all I’d eat apparently. How boring!!
This salsa sounds really fresh and tasty – perfect for BBQs!
This salsa looks so good and I definitely need to give the sweet potato chips a try! x
I do love salsa but only mild stuff- I’m not good with spicy things! I do love the idea of the mango and black beans.