FOODIE WEEKEND - Party Food Part 1 – Crunchy Healthy Salsa

I love to organize parties.  Not the ‘jump on the table, free flow booze till 3 in the morning’ kind of parties but more on the ‘get together and catch up over some party food and drinks’ kind of parties.  Among my expat friends here in Dubai, we have this kind of parties all the time and once in a while, I too would have some guests over for this kind of gathering.  One item in the menu that never fails to make an appearance over and over is this simple salsa. 

The salsa is so versatile, it can be used as side dish for dumplings or spring rolls, act as dipping for the good ole chips or in my household we use it to roll in tortilla like we would do burritos over some grill chicken slices and fresh herbs!  It is refreshing, crunchy with very little calories!

Crunchy Healthy Salsa

Ingredients

Half an onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 cucumber seeded and diced

1 red fresh chili, seeded and diced (optional)

3 plump tomato, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon of white vinegar

2 tablespoon of finely chopped flat leaf parsely

1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup

Sugar

Salt

Method

Put all diced ingredients in a bowl and add in salt.

Tip :

Pour the mixture into a strainer and leave over a small bowl.  Tthe cucumber and tomato will release water with the help of the salt and this water will seep through into the bowl. 

Leave for an hour or so.  This way, your salsa will not be watery or soggy!

Later add in the rest of the ingredients and mix gently. 

Add sugar to taste.  The salsa should have the sweet and sour taste.

To guarantee the freshness, serve immediately.