Courtesy of Thomasina Miers – the woman behind Mexican street food phenomenon Wahaca. “This is a quick and easy table salsa, the likes of which grace every cantina across Mexico, and it goes with anything,” she says. This recipe features in Miers’ new cookbook Mexican Food Made Simple, and makes about a cup.

What you need: 4 plum tomatoes; 2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled; 1 large jalapeño chilli; 1 large tbsp coriander, chopped; ½ white onion, finely chopped and rinsed under cold water; juice of ½ lime; a pinch of sea salt.

The work: Gather all of your ingredients and heat a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan.
Place the tomatoes, garlic and chilli in the pan and dry roast until they are blackened and soft. The tomatoes will take a little longer, so remove the garlic and chilli first when cooked (about 5-10 mins).
Discard the stem from the chilli and skin from the garlic and put both in a pestle and mortar. Pound to a paste, then add the tomatoes and work them into the chilli.
Add the coriander, onion and lime juice. Taste and check for seasoning.
All of this can be prepared in a food processor, but the salsa will lose the lovely rough consistency that it gets from using a pestle and mortar.

» Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers (Hodder & Stoughton). £20. For more on Wahaca, see wahaca.co.uk