Instructions: Combine the tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. Place the chiles, water, and 3 T. of the tomato and onion mixture in a blender or processor and puree until smooth. Add the chile puree to the remaining tomato mixture and mix well. Salt to taste.

Yield: 1 to 2 cups Heat Scale: Medium Salsa

Variations: Ecuadorians are very fond of putting beans in their salsa. The most popular beans are the lupini, which are large white beans about the size of lima beans. Just add the cooked beans directly to the salsa. On several occasions, the writer encountered salsas with peanut butter as an ingredient. Add 1 t. peanut butter with the chiles in the blender and follow the above recipe.

NOTES : This is a classic Latin American salsa, and the writer has included some optional preparation methods which are fairly unique=

to Ecuador and the Andes. Although this recipe calls for the use of an electric blender, one can follow the traditional method of using a mortar and pestle.

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