First on my summer list of to-do’s: Make & consume as much fresh pico de gallo as humanly possible. Check…and check. I made this at least once a week in the month of June and the first part of July. Each batch got a little hotter than the last with the addition of jalepenos. Have I mentioned my never-ending craving for this hot pepper all summer long? No? Okay. I can’t stop thinking about them….I have them in scrambled eggs {yum}, hash browns, with red beans & rice, and on sandwiches. And, finally, with some help from Thom…my poor fingers no longer burn from all the chopping.
Thom’s no-finger-burning method for dicing jalepenos:
1. Spear the jalepeno near the stem.
2. Slit the jalepeno along the length. Rotate your fork and make another long cut.
3. You should now have four pieces held together by the stem. Go ahead and cut off the stem to release those pieces.
4. Scrape off the placenta and seeds. This is where a lot of the hotness comes from. I left a bit on for added heat.
5. You’ll have four nicely cleaned layers of jalepeno. Stack and spear them with your fork or do one at a time. It’s faster to stack and dice all at once.
6. Cut layers into multiple splits depending on how big you’d like your dice.
7. Hold fork firmly spearing the jalepeno and dice, dice, dice.
8. Repeat as needed for each layer and you’ll have a nice pile of diced jalepeno to add to pico de gallo!
I add mine to roma tomatoes, lots of onion, fresh garlic, and cilantro. Drizzle with lemon juice and toss in some kosher salt. Add tortilla chips and enjoy!
