This year I decided to finally grow papalo, Porophyllum ruderale, also known as quillquiña. This herb has a flavor somewhat similar to cilantro, but unlike that plant, it has thrived throughout a summer of triple digit days. Not having cooked with it before, it gave me an excuse to make a quick roasted salsa.
Papalo in Geoff's garden.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tomatoes
- Several hot peppers, I used a mix of fresh and dried peppers
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- a handful of papalo leaves, chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
Heat a cast iron skillet on low. Cut the stems off of the peppers. I leave the seeds in the peppers, but you can remove them if you want the salsa to be less hot. Peel the onion and cut it in half. Roast the tomatoes, peppers and onion in the skillet without oil and turn them occasionally. Remove when they get a few black spots.
Roasting the salsa ingredients
Add the tomato to a blender and blend it first without the other ingredients. You may have to cut the tomato into smaller pieces to get it to blend. Once the tomato has liquified add the other roasted ingredients, a little at a time until they also get thoroughly chopped. Then add the raw garlic, the papalo and the salt. Blend another ten to fifteen seconds and you’re done.
Caution!
Note: papalo has a stronger flavor than cilantro, so you may want to use a small quantity if you are not used to its flavor.