Salsa

Salsa is a treat served and enjoyed at Mexican cuisines all around the nation. While the arrangement of ingredients vary slightly, most salsas have onions, tomatoes, and cilantro, and often also have some variety of pepper (usually jalapeno or cayenne) added in for heat. You can make your own salsa, too! Making your own has the benefit of allowing you to tweak the recipe to your liking and to experiment when you feel like trying something new.
Salsa has a lot of benefits that many other toppings fail at: it is largely fat free (except for an optional ingredient and whatever you may dip into it), and it is a great and tasty source of vegetables and especially the lycopene in tomatoes. Watch out, though, because salsa is often a large source of sodium, especially if you, the chef, like salty salsa. Salsa typically comes in two forms: its normal thin liquid, and its chunkier cousin, which is typically called pico de gallo. What form it takes is up to you and whether you blend or chop the vegetables. Salsa is good for dipping, while pico de gallo is good for adding to tacos or other dishes.
Choose Your Ingredients
Other than the three typical ingredients, there are a number of options which can alter the content and flavour of your salsa. A common ingredient is the avocado, which takes in other flavours there. Avocado is not unhealthy, but it does have a high amount of fat in it. Avocadoes can also be expensive, and they are notorious for being brought into grocery stores more than two weeks before they are ready to be consumed. Jalapeno peppers are a good standby pepper that is moderately hot with good flavour, but bell peppers can also be selected if pepper flavour without the heat is desired. If you are really adventurous, you can buy habanero peppers; these typically have 10-30 times the heat of a jalapeno. Some unconventional ingredients include peaches, mangoes, other fruit, and even tomatillos. You can also add complementary spices and flavours such as garlic salt and lime juice, which does better than lemon.
Chop…Chop…Chop
A typical recipe will appear something like this. Tomatoes do not differ greatly in flavour, but many use Roma or Plum tomatoes because of their low price. Onions have distinctive flavours, but purple, white, and Spanish onions can all fit nicely into a salsa. Be sure not to get Italian Parsley! It looks almost identical to cilantro, but it has no scent or flavour.
Tomatoes 5-8
Onion 1
Cilantro 1 bunch
Pepper 1-2
Avocado 1-2
To prepare, simply chop the ingredients on a cutting board and dump them into a bowl. If you want a red salsa, then use mostly tomatoes and less cilantro. If green is your goal, then add another bunch of cilantro. If you like cilantro, save the end of the bunch and blend it up with a tomato. Most people throw it away, but it can add some flavour. Cut everything up and mix it together. Add some garlic salt or lime juice to taste, and your salsa is complete! Enjoy it with some baked tortilla chips to avoid as much fat as possible.