Recipe from Simply Nigella.

The timing of this recipe was great as the weekend I would be making this, I would be staying in a house in the Welsh countryside with seven friends and four babies. Perfect for dipping whilst we sit around and chat and play games (for the adults, not the babies).

The hardest part of the whole thing was sourcing fresh jalapeños, thankfully I was able to get some from a market in London before I set off for Wales.

Now, when I got around to making this in the beautiful countryside kitchen, it was all going well, until I added the jalapeño peppers to the pan. These are being added to chopped onion and garlic, and whilst these two ingredients didn’t cause an issue, as soon as I started stirring the peppers in the pan, the mood changed. Now I’ve never been gassed but I have a feeling that cooking these peppers got me pretty close, the smell in the air, the smoke, it all made for a quick evacuation from the kitchen of everyone else whilst I ran around opening windows and trying to figure out how the extractor fan worked! I hastily added the tinned tomatoes which calmed the situation a bit, but for the next ten minutes I was racked with guilt as I had three babies and three adults coughing heavily in the next room.

The final result however was great, I’m not one for massively spicy foods so only had a few bites myself with some tortilla chips, but the rest of the gang ate it up greedily, and the leftovers the next day were apparently even hotter. (I had decided I didn’t need to experience that).

It really is a Simple Salsa, but ensure the room is well ventilated before you start cooking!