Courtesy of Chef Melissa Araujo
Chef Melissa Araujo of Alma Café in New Orleans, where she pays tribute to her native Honduras in dishes like Baleadas, Pollo Chuco, Fritas Hondurenas, and Chicharron con Yuca. Visit our website for Araujo's recipe for Aguachile Negro, or catch her at our upcoming St. Francisville Food and Wine Festival in November.
Salsa Negra Ingredients:
- 1 white onion, quartered
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 6 Chile morita and 6 chile negro (or pasilla)
- 2 tomatoes
- Cilantro
- 1/4 cup water
Aguachile Ingredients:
- 1 red onion, sliced thin
- 2/3 cup lime juice, divided
- Salt and black pepper
- 3 tablespoons Maggi seasoning
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 black garlic cloves
- 1 pound scallops
- 1 pound of shrimp
- 1 English cucumber, sliced
- 1 avocado, diced
Instructions:
- Heat a comal or griddle or cast iron skillet over high heat. When it's hot, char the onion and the garlic clove, chiles, and tomatoes well.
- When both cut sides of the onion quarters are blackened, roughly chop and put into a blender with garlic, chiles, tomatoes, and cilantro.
- While the onion is charring, mix in some salt with the sliced red onion and toss with about 1/4 cup of the lime juice. Let this sit in a bowl until you are ready to serve. Doing this quick pickles the onion and removes any sulfur bite to it.
- Add the rest of the lime juice, Maggi, soy, about 1 teaspoon black pepper, the black garlic cloves, if using, and the water to the blender and puree everything.
- Toss the scallops, shrimp and cucumber with the sauce and put some on everyone's plates. Add the avocado, the red onions, the cilantro and crushed chiltepin chiles. Serve at once.
