It’s National Salsa Month and we’re celebrating by sharing our favorite salsa recipes with you. Have a recipe you would like to share with PLR readers? Email us at info@powerfullatinasrising.com. 

When most folks hear the word salsa, they think of pico de gallo, salsa verde, or other similar types of salsa used as a topping or eaten with chips. My mind immediately goes to jocón. Jocón is a recado or thick sauce that you can either cook meat in or serve on top of meat or rice or serve with anything you want to taste delicious. It’s a traditional Guatemalan dish and one of my favorite things to eat.

I have not been back to visit Guatemala since I was in fifth grade. And, not to age myself, but that was the year we all thought the world would end because computers wouldn’t be able to understand what year it was. So pretty much, it’s been a while.

Almost all of my family lives in Guatemala. It’s just my mom, sister, and I here in the U.S. But when we used to make jocón growing up, it was like we had jumped on an airplane and flown down to Xela to see everyone. I remember helping my mom move the ajonjoli so it wouldn’t burn while she was making the masa to go with it. 

The smell of jocón wafting throughout the apartment and using a fresh, handmade tortilla to lather up the sauce from my plate is my simple way of holding my family from afar. And now that my mom and I live across the country from each other, making this dish has taken on an even larger significance than I could have imagined. 

From my family to yours, I hope you enjoy the recipe below and that it brings joy and comfort to your home. 

Ingredients:

  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 scallion
  • 3 – 4 tomatillos
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 handful dried pumpkin seeds*
  • 1 handful sesame seeds*
  • A slice of bread or a lump of corn masa 
  • Water if needed to change the consistency 

*This is definitely a real measurement…just eyeball it.

Instructions:

  1. Cook your chicken or turkey in a moderate amount of water
  2. Toast your dried pumpkin seeds in a pan at a low temperature. Make sure you’re moving it around constantly so it toasts but doesn’t burn. Once it’s looking a little bit darker, add your sesame seeds and toast these as well in a similar manner. Both the pumpkin and sesame seeds should slightly change color but not toast to a crisp. 
  3. Toast a slice of bread and then add it to a bit of water or you can make a small lump of corn masa.
  4. In your pumpkin and sesame seed pan, add the rest of your ingredients (garlic, scallion, tomatillos, bell pepper) and toast them as well. Do not slice anything. Just simply put them on the pan and toast them.
  5. Once all your ingredients are toasted, put everything in the blender and blend them to the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can either put the sauce on your meat and rice or put it in a pot and cook your meat in the sauce.