Everything tastes better with Pul Biber!

This is a really easy and delicious Salsa Recipe. It’s  a mixture of sweet (the fruit) and sour (the lime juice), cool (the cucumber) and spicy (the Pul Biber Turkish Spice). It’s delicious as a side-dish, but we ate it last night we cubed grilled tofu in it to make it a complete meal.

The recipe below is just for the salsa, and you can switch the ingredients up based on what you have available. I’ve made this salsa multiple times, and sometimes I add some diced avocado just before I serve it.

I’ve also made the Salsa it with a mixture of pineapple and kiwi, or used red onions instead of spring onions. It really doesn’t matter what you substitute as long as you have the four components of sweet, sour, cool and spicy.

Now let’s get chopping!

Spicy Pineapple Salsa INGREDIENTS

If you happen to have the BBQ on to grill the corn on the cob .. go one step further and grill the fruit (e.g. the pineapple or peach etc.) as well. 

• 1/2 Pinapple (or some other type of fruit like nectarines, peaches, plums or kiwi fruit)
• Juice of 2 Limes
• Bunch of Cilantro (aka Coriander)
• 1 English Cucumber
• Charred Sweetcorn (optimal is to grill ears of corn on the BBQ, and then cut them off the cob. But other options are to use canned or frozen sweetcorn. For this recipe I used a small bag of charred frozen sweetcorn)
• Pul Biber Turkish Spice (Lots and Lots!)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

HOW TO MAKE Spicy Pineapple Salsa

1. Dice the pineapple (or fruit) into small cubes.
2. Peel the Cucumber and it into small cubes.
3. Slice the Spring Onions into small circles.
4. Combine these ingredients into a bowl and add the Lime Juice, stirring occasionally while you prepare the sweetcorn.
5. Sauté the Sweetcorn in Pul Biber, and then add to the other ingredients.
6. Chop the Cilantro finely and add to the other ingredients.
7. Gently stir the entire mixture so that everything is coated in lime juice and cilantro.
8. Leave the dish to chill in the Fridge.
9. Serve and Eat.

My Spicy Tip

You could add Pul Biber Turkish spice to the entire dish, but I prefer to sauté the corn in the Pul Biber, so that the Sweetcorn is really spicy, and it rubs off a little on the other ingredients.

This technique creates a diverse flavour profile. Rather than creating a salsa that is hot and spicy with every mouthful, this approach means that you don’t know what kind of mouthful you’re going to get.

Pineapple Diced in the Bowl

Saute the Corn with Pul Biber

Pineapple & Cucumber in the Bowl

Add the Corn to the Bowl

Spicy Pineapple Salsa

Credit where Credit is due

(Shout out to Bex for introducing me to this recipe during our last trip to Palm Springs. She makes it slightly differently, but she was the inspiration behind my version of the recipe).

To learn more about Pul Biber … read my article on my Bodrum Travel Guide Website.