How to Make Rodrigo Cervantes’ Hot and Crispy Salsa Macha

Salsa macha — “Sauce for the brave, los machos, real men…?” It doesn’t go down so well for an origin story, does it? Gratefully, there’s another one. Salsa macha, as ‘ground sauce’, from the word ‘machacar’ — to grind — usually in a molcajete.

From unknown origin in the south of Mexico, specifically in the neighbouring states of Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, the name lends itself to interpretation, but its foundation is simple: ground chillies, nuts or seeds submerged in oil.

So here I am, jumping on the chilli oil bandwagon. You’ve already got Chinese Laoganma chilli crisp, Sichuan chilli oil, Thai nam prik pao, Japanese rayu — and that’s not even mentioning the many hyped, branded new takes on these classics. So why add one more recipe to the chilli oil craze? Well, because this one is easy, customisable and homemade.

Its versatility gets me going. Like using pumpkin seeds instead of peanuts. Or walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds. Add some spices to make it more fragrant: cumin, allspice or star anise. Change the ratio or type of chillies, or even use fresh chillies.

Marmite is not traditional at all — it’s just a creative liberty I took. Instead of Marmite, you could also use Chinese fermented black beans or soy.

Anyway, this sauce lives in my cupboard all year round and goes well with anything — from pizza, noodles, quesadillas, beans, fish, raw fish, aguachiles, or simply on some cucumber with lime juice.

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The Recipe

500ml olive oil
2 bulbs garlic (peeled and thinly sliced)
120g roasted salted peanuts or raw peanuts
120g sesame seeds
5 ancho chillies
8 guajillo Chillies
10 árbol Chillies
50ml rice wine vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tsp Marmite
Salt to taste

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Method

Peel and deseed the ancho and guajillo chillies, cut them into strips (use scissors). Take the stem off the árbol chillies (if any) and cut into strips as well. Remove some of the seeds or reduce the amount of árbol for a less spicy version.

In a hot pan, toast the chillies lightly, making sure you are turning them and toasting them evenly. It’s a few seconds job — 10 seconds, maybe. You want them to release some of their aroma, but be careful — if burnt, the flavour will be very obvious in the salsa. Set the chillies aside.

Now the easy part.

Heat the oil to 120ºC or on a medium-high-ish heat.

Drop in the sliced garlic and cook for 10 minutes (Hey Siri, set an alarm for 10 minutes!)
You want it to lightly sizzle with soft, slow bubbles as you drop it in. If it bubbles or foams aggressively — you’re fucked, start again. Joke! Just take it off the heat and let it cool a bit. Maybe start by trying a single piece of sliced garlic and see how the oil reacts.

If using raw peanuts, now is the time to drop them in. If using roasted, just wait.

With almost all frying it’s all about projecting the right colour of brown in your head and stopping the frying two shades before.

In this case, you will have to stop the frying four shades before.

Trust your gut — and once the pale colour looks slightly yellowish, drop in the chillies and sesame, and fry for 2 minutes.

Now you want the sesame toasted, as the garlic gets to a light golden shade, while also ensuring the chillies do not burn. Make sure everything is submerged in the oil.

Add the roasted salted peanuts. (I’m used to using raw peanuts but couldn’t find any in my local shops, so I went for the salted roasted ones. Must say it made things a little easier and didn’t change the flavour much.)

Once everything is the right colour, remove from the heat and — very carefully and slowly so as not to piss off the beast — pour in the vinegar a little at a time. This will slow down the frying process and make the following step easier.

Pour into a blender with the Marmite, sugar and salt, and blitz everything to a coarse paste.

I attempted to do it in a small molcajete and failed. But I’m sure if you own a big molcajete you can grind that salsa nicely. For that matter, if you’ve got a big molcajete, you probably don’t need this recipe.

Let it rest in the fridge for a day to let all the flavours infuse.

That’s it.

Rodrigo Cervantes is from Mexico City, but lives in east London with his family. He is head chef at Bad Manners. Read more of his work on Something Curated here.

All photos by Rodrigo Cervantes.