Chilean Salsa Americana (American Sauce)

This Chilean sauce is an important part of Chile's food scene, especially as one of the toppings for one of the most popular Chilean foods, hotdogs; that is, more specifically, "Completo Chileno" (I am working on an article about these), or "Complete Chilean." There are variations in recipes for this sauce, and some add more ingredients, but sometimes keeping things simple is better. You can blend this sauce until smooth or leave it a little chunky. You don't want a lot of the cooking water added to the cooked vegetables, or the sauce will be runny. DUH! While not traditional, I use a little sugar in the sauce, as strong sour flavors are not something I really care for. So, I included this option for others who may want to tame the sourness a bit. 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup chopped carrot

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped cucumber (if the cucumber has large seeds, use a spoon to scrape them out)

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon Spanish sweet paprika

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/4 cup water for cooking, with 1 level tablespoon salt

2 to 5 tablespoons reserved cooking water 

(optional) 1 teaspoon sugar (or to taste)

The carrot, onion and cucumber don't have to be finely chopped, just cut up, and the garlic cloves can be left whole, as everything will later be blended. Put the chopped vegetables (carrot, onion, cucumber and garlic) into a pan with the salted water, bring to a boil, adjust to a steady simmer, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the veggies are softened, but not mushy. Let this cool down somewhat, drain and reserve the cooking water, then put the cooked vegetables into a blender or use a stick blender, add 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, Spanish sweet paprika and sugar (if using), blend until smooth (or leave it a little chunky, if you prefer). If the sauce is too thick, add more cooking water by the tablespoon until you reach the desired consistency.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Total-The origin of this word is unknown. It goes back to the Latin adjective "totus," which meant "all, everything together, entire," and this produced Latin "totalis," "entire, everything together, absolute," and this was taken by Old French as "total" and English borrowed the word in the latter part of the 1300s. The noun form developed in the mid 1500s with the meaning "the sum, the complete amount." The verb form is from the first quarter of the 1700s with the meaning "to come to the entire amount of, to add numbers to come to a sum." The adverb "totally," meaning "in a complete way," developed in the early 1500s (1510?).