Mexican Restaurant-Style Salsa

 Are salsa and chips your favorite part of eating at a Mexican restaurant?  You can make salsa just like your favorite restaurant at home.  You can customize it to make it just the way you and your family like it!

Here's the basic recipe:

6-8 large tomatoes, scalded and peeled (or you can substitute a large can of tomatoes)

2 cans Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilis)

1 roughly chopped onion

1-3 cloves garlic, mashed or chopped

1-2 Jalapeno, quartered and seeded if desired (the seeds are where most of the heat lives)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt (or more)

1 teaspoon cumin

Bunch cilantro, chopped

1 lime, juiced

garlic salt to taste

You need a food processor for this, though I don't know why a blender wouldn't work.  1st put in your tomatoes and pulse until smooth.  Pour into a bowl( unless you have a really big food processor that will hold the whole recipe.)  Then put 1 can of the Rotel in the processor (I like to leave the other chunky and put it right in the bowl) and the rest of the ingredients.  Process until smooth.  Pour in with the tomatoes and mix well.  Taste.  Add more, sugar, lime, salt, cilantro as your taste dictates.  Some may want it much hotter and add more Jalapeno.  When you get it the way you like it, refrigerate for at least an hour.  You can serve it just like this (like restaurants do,) or add some or all of the following to the part you are going to eat right now:

1 bell pepper, chopped

green onions, chopped

about 1/3 cucumber, chopped very fine

more lime juice

1 tomato, chopped

Again, adjust to your taste.  

You can freeze this base.  It gets a little more watery, but it tastes good.