Tortilla Chips, Salsa Fresco and Tomatilla Salsa

Picture
Ingredients
Chips
12 corn tortillas, 8 inches
salt to taste

Salsa Fresco
1 1/4 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded, 1/8 inch dice
1 cup onion, 1/8 inch dice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 serrano chile, seeded, minced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, packed, finely chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lime juice

Tomatillo Salsa
1 1/2 cups tomatillos (about 6)
1 1/2 tablespoons red onion, 1/8 inch dice
1/2 serrano chile, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped, packed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
pinch granulated sugar

Directions
Chips: preheat a deep-fryer to 350F. Cut the tortillas into quarters and fry until crisp.
Remove and drain on paper towels, season with salt.
If using fresh made tortillas, cook before frying.

Salsa Fresco: Combine ingredients and toss gently; adjust seasoning and lime as needed

Tomatillo Salsa: Husk tomatillos and roast until soft (about 40 minutes). Cool, then puree with other ingredients. Add sugar as needed to reduce tartness of tomatillos.

Critique
Chef: our chips puffed and were dark, but not burnt. If they were thinner, they would have cooked a little better. Salsa fresco was a bit onion heavy which gave it a certain sharp taste, more citrus would have been good. The green salsa had a good texture and was tart, but not bitter.

Personal/Team: The tomatoes were not good quality (out of season), so the salsa was hard to make nicely. The green salsa (tomatillo) had a good flavor and was thick enough to dip a chip in, good texture. The chips were cooked on the stove instead of the deep fryer because the fryer was crowded with other people so we couldn't control the heat and the chips got brown very fast.

Lessons Learned: we made our own tortillas for these chips and I learned from watching another team that if you don't cook off the tortilla and just put it in the fryer, they will puff up and sort of explode! The tortillas were pretty thick, very good for dipping in something heave like a chili.