Continuing in my quest to create the Kogi short rib taco experience at home I came to the salsa. I generally associate tacos and Mexican food in general with spicy heat as I also do with Korean food. Since the Korean barbecue short ribs were relatively sweet I knew that the salsa would be a very important part of the tacos. Unfortunately I was not able to find an actual Kogi recipe so I needed to come up with my own.
The Kogi web site describes the salsa as such: “sesame-chili salsa roja”. With that description I was thinking about a sauce made with a base of gochujang , a Korean fermented chili paste, with some sesame oil and seeds and maybe some ginger. After searching the Kogi site in depth I came across an old archived post that mentioned that it was a chili de arbol based salsa with ‘secret’ ingredients. When I saw that description I knew immediately what I wanted to do! I started with a basic chili de arbol salsa consisting of tomatoes, chilies de arbol, onion and garlic and I added some tomatillos for a depth of flavour. (Of course I roasted the tomatoes, tomatillos and onion to add even more flavour.) For the Korean fusion ingredients I added some ginger for a bit of a bite, some sesame oil for the aroma and flavour, some crushed toasted sesame seeds for some texture and the gochujang paste for some more heat and an additional layer of Korean flavour.
The salsa roja was pretty easy to make and it turned out so well! The only issue that I had with making the salsa was straining it, where I had to really work the salsa through the strainer with the back of a spoon to get all of the good stuff. It was well worth the effort though! The red salsa was nice and fiery hot and full of flavour. The first thing that hits you is the aroma of sesame oil which always reminds me of Asian food. Once you get it in your mouth you are hit be the intense heat which as it fades leaves you with a really tasty sauce. Since I added the crushed sesame seeds after straining the salsa they added a really nice texture to the otherwise smooth salsa. This red sauce is so addictive! I find myself eating it by the spoonful every time I pull it out to use.
Korean Style Salsa Roja
ingredients
- 1/2 pound plum tomatoes
- 1/4 pound tomatillos (husked and washed)
- 1 cup water
- 1 ounce (about 20) dried chilies de arbol, toasted
- 1/2 cup onion (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon garlic, grated
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon gochugaru (Korean chili powder)
- 2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted and crushed
- salt and pepper to taste
directions
- Roast the tomatoes and tomatillos until charred on all sides, about 10-12 minutes.
- Place the tomatoes, tomatillos, water, chiles de arbol and onion into a sauce pan, bring to a boil and simmer until the onions are tender, about 20-30 minutes.
- Drain the water reserving it.
- Place everything other that the sesame seeds into a food processor or a blender and puree adding some of the reserved liquid if necessary.
- Strain the bits from the salsa.
- Mix in the toasted and crushed sesame seeds and season with salt and pepper.
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VeggieGirl says
August 22, 2009 at 12:05 amTHAT'S is a fabulous salsa variety – holy yum.
Jenn says
August 22, 2009 at 1:48 amNice recreation from a vague description from the website. First the short ribs. Now this. I may just to make my own little Korean taco soon.
Velva says
August 22, 2009 at 2:13 amHoly cow! That looks utterly amazing!!! This blog is enlightening me!
Elra says
August 22, 2009 at 4:42 amSuch a unique spicy sauce. I am sure it delicious!
Jan says
August 22, 2009 at 6:05 amVery interesting – I now NEED to make this sauce!
Rosa's Yummy Yums says
August 22, 2009 at 8:09 amA fantastic idea! That sauce looks very tasty!
Cheers,
Rosa
diva says
August 22, 2009 at 10:29 amthis is impressive! kevin, you've got such amazing skills and international tastebuds!
lisa says
August 22, 2009 at 12:48 pmI just recently learned of the wonder that is gochujang, so this sauce sounds fantastic!
pigpigscorner says
August 22, 2009 at 1:42 pmGood use of gochujang!
Anonymous says
August 22, 2009 at 1:50 pmI've never seen this before! How fantastic does that look??
Zoe says
August 22, 2009 at 1:59 pmThis looks great. I love korean food!
Amy J says
August 22, 2009 at 2:03 pmI'm heading out for these ingredients soon. Looks great!
Anonymous says
August 22, 2009 at 2:32 pmDelicious — I can think of lots of ways to use this sauce.
meeso says
August 22, 2009 at 3:18 pmI love your step-by-step posts to making a great dish! It's like a recipe soap opera!
Cucinista says
August 22, 2009 at 4:18 pmSalsa salsa salsa… this recipe is calling to me.
Dawn says
August 22, 2009 at 10:39 pmyes a very unique sauce indeed. I imagine you could use it for some mexican dishes or not? Oh why not, so many fusions these days.
KC says
August 23, 2009 at 6:26 pmWhat an interesting use of gochujang. My mom uses gochujang with fermented soy bean paste, a little bit of sugar, green onions, little bit of garlic to make a good sauce. I'd give you the exact amounts except it's just that, a little of this, a bit of that.
Sook says
August 27, 2009 at 6:54 amYum Yum! I love dipping cucumbers in those. It's so good. Have you tried it?
Kevin says
August 27, 2009 at 10:40 amSook: Dipping cucumbers into this salsa sounds really good!
Anonymous says
September 8, 2009 at 11:26 amGreat template! Thanx for sharing it with us
I like it! Simple and pretty More templates easy to download
Anonymous says
September 12, 2009 at 3:10 pmhi Kevin! I found you through the week of menus blog. I really really like the korean tex mex combinations!
The Mistress of Spices says
June 24, 2012 at 4:12 pmVery creative! I need to get more adventurous with Korean food.
Anonymous says
September 19, 2013 at 1:19 pmOkay…I just made this and its WAY too spicy, like inedible spicy. I had to make another batch because there were just way too many peppers. Holy crap!! I started sweating after a had a spoonful of the first sauce. Jeez!!! And I'm the type of person that douses their food in sriracha.