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I'm trying to make some salsa with a magic bullet using the given recipe from the cookbook that comes with it. Here's the recipe with a picture of how it turns out at best.

The final product comes out looking pretty unappetizing - even worse than that picture. Is there a way to make it of normal consistency and colour?

Update: I realize that I should be a bit more specific as there are a lot of different salsas. I want it to look like this.

salsa

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ChrisM
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    What do you find unappetizing exactly? To me, the picture looks like it has foam from blending (which should settle down), and maybe too much water, but the ingredient list is fairly reasonable. (What do you think of as "normal" for salsa?) – Cascabel Nov 10 '11 at 20:19
  • Good point Jefromi, I've updated my question with a more specific definition. – ChrisM Nov 10 '11 at 21:49
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    @ChrisM the tomatoes in your "should be" picture are cooked, maybe some of the other ingredients (the chiles?) too. The onion and parsley is still raw, but not blended, they were cut into pieces and added later. – rumtscho Nov 10 '11 at 23:19
  • Wow seriously, so all I need to do is cook the tomatoes and then follow the magic bullet recipe and I'll have a chunky red sauce? – ChrisM Nov 10 '11 at 23:49
  • The tomatoes won't be chunky, after cooking, they will make a smooth paste. If you don't cook the other ingredients, they will stay chunky. – rumtscho Nov 11 '11 at 10:37

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The Magic Bullet is essentially a blender, and is, as such, inherently unsuitable for making a salsa.

Also, the "seven-second" part of that recipe is a lie. You're still going to have to peel the onions and garlic, remove the stems and seeds of the peppers, and trim up the tomatoes.

You're getting your knife and cutting board out anyway, so why not just do it by hand? It really shouldn't take more that 5 minutes.

Chris Cudmore
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    Some salsas are pureed. I don't think you're ever going to do that with a knife and cutting board. It looks like the problem here is more that there's a lot of water released, and it was photographed while still foamy from blending. – Cascabel Nov 10 '11 at 18:36
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    I've always seen salsa as chunky. I assumed that the pureeing was what ChrisM was viewing as unappetizing. – Chris Cudmore Nov 10 '11 at 19:05
  • The term has taken on a ton of meanings as it's spread around, but in the Mexican cuisine that salsas like this come from, salsa very commonly means something blended. Before electric appliances, they were made with mortar and pestle, and now blenders are extremely common in Mexican households - even in households without other appliances! And in my experience in Texas, perhaps half the salsas sold in jars in grocery stores are blended, and most restaurant salsas (for eating with chips) are. – Cascabel Nov 10 '11 at 20:18
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    @Jefromi, on the contrary: the term has one (relevant) meaning. A composition or mixture of various dissolved edible substances, which is made to dress or season food. (My translation from the DRAE). The problem is that a lot of people try to treat a word as generic as "sauce" as a technical term referring to a specific recipe. – Peter Taylor Nov 10 '11 at 22:36
  • @PeterTaylor: Sure. But in *English*, "salsa" doesn't just refer to any sauce, and in many places it essentially exclusively refers to the sort you'd eat on a chip or as a generic condiment. And no one in English is going to say "salsa" in isolation and actually mean mole. So yes, it *has* taken on other meanings. But this is all a complete digression. We both agree that not all salsas (in either the general Spanish or more specific English meaning) are chunky. – Cascabel Nov 10 '11 at 23:28
  • @Jefromi Yes, salsa is definitely chunky! – ChrisM Nov 10 '11 at 23:48
  • @Jefromi: Traditional salsa cruda is almost never blended, at least not according to any of the Mexicans I've met or any of the more authentic Mexican restaurants I've ever eaten at... it's usually only the salsa roja (red salsa - very hot) that's actually puréed as opposed to just chopped. Food processors are fairly common but blenders? Never. – Aaronut Nov 11 '11 at 02:31
  • @Aaronut: Yes, salsa cruda belongs in the part that's not blended. I wasn't trying to say no such thing existed, but rather that many pruréed salsas do exist, and that's a quite normal thing. And I got the bit about blenders being common in Mexico from my sister, who spent a summer in Oaxaca, and saw both urban and rural households. A food processor would be better for many things, of course, but I think blenders are cheaper, and better for some of the more liquid salsas people commonly make there? – Cascabel Nov 11 '11 at 03:12
  • @Jefromi: Authenticity arguments aside, the major disadvantage of a blender is that you have very little control over the consistency you end up with; a blender tends to liquefy a little bit at a time while leaving the rest untouched. Compare with a food processor which will give you roughly uniform chunks of progressively finer consistency the longer and faster you run it. Again, it all depends on what you're trying to make; for salsa roja you want to extract the maximum amount of capsicum so blenders all the way; on the other hand cilantro and garlic tends to lose its subtlety as a purée. – Aaronut Nov 11 '11 at 03:21
  • Normally it is true that a blender would puree the food and that you have very little control, but that's one of the upsides to a magic bullet. It's a small little blender which is turned on when you push down on it. Because of this, you can pulse the food in such a way where you still get chunks, it's pretty cool actually. I know there are better ways to make salsa, but I want to make it with the magic bullet because it's fast and fun =P – ChrisM Nov 11 '11 at 15:43
  • Yeah, and you have to clean the so-called magic bullet...instead of cleaning off the knife and cutting board. The magic bullet is an extra step and not needed. – wdypdx22 Nov 11 '11 at 23:17