What exactly is Mexicali corn (aka Fiesta corn) anyway? The name infers a cuisine fusion of Mexico with California, but both areas have corn and bell peppers; where is the distinction? Looking up recipes in books and on the internet I have made a profound discovery; Mexicali corn is nothing more than a salsa and ingredients are determined more by the cook's tastes than locale.
Well then, instead of wasting my money on a canned product which obviously has ingredients I do not want, and actually is pretty useless altogether; I might as well make my own. Oh wait, I already have and I named it Confetti Salsa.
Ingredients:
3 medium sized tomatoes, ripe and firm
1 ¼ cups whole kernel corn
1 small red onion, diced
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
¼ cup each diced red, green and orange bell peppers
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp fine sea salt
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup chopped, fresh cilantro
Preparation:
Cut tomatoes in half and scoop out fleshy pulp and seeds; cut into strips and dice. Steam the corn over boiling water until just tender; place in refrigerator to cool. Into a medium mixing bowl, add all ingredients and gently mix. Refrigerate for one hour before serving.
Makes 4 cups of salsa.
When I make the noodle side dish, I will be leaving out the tomatoes, jalapeno pepper, lime juice and cilantro; as I said, it's up to the cook's tastes. The complete recipe? That's for another posting at another time.
Mary Cokenour
