Pico de Gallo With Cabbage and Cotija Cheese

What I am about to share with you is probably one of the best cabbage salads you will ever have. Unless you are a die-hard coleslaw fan, which I have never heard of a person to claim that category (sorry if you are, i’m not a fan personally) this is going to blow all slaws away. It’s one of those passed down recipes that we can’t really trace back to the originator. My Mom was introduced to it by her sister-in-law and ever since the first bite, our family has been hooked. Whenever my Mom brings this one out to the food table at parties people start following her. Sometimes she won’t even make it to the table without having to serve a few spoonfulls onto the plates of the nearest relatives she passes who have seen what is in her hands. It’s so addicting.

We know this salad as Salsa Boracha at home but here I have given it a name that is more specific to the ingredients so readers know what it is right away. Why you ask? Well, to tell you the truth I don’t know if it is a Salsa Boracha. To me when I hear the name Salsa Boracha, my mind automatically assumes the recipe will call for some sort of alcohol. But it doesn’t, and since that’s what my Mama was told it was called that’s what we have been calling it.

If anyone else has seen or heard of a similar recipe named something else I would love to hear about it. Just curious as to why it’s called Salsa Boracha because all the Salsa Boracha’s I have heard of are the red and blended type and actually do have alcohol in them. It’s a bit misleading to me, but what the heck do I know. All that matters anyway is that it’s Bombdigity!

Here are the ingredients…

½ head of cabbage chopped
1 cup cotija cheese crumbled
2/3 cup cilantro finely chopped
1 avocado
2 roma tomatoes
2 canned jalapeños seeded and minced
2 tbsp of juice from the jalapeño can
¼ cup minced white onion
½ tsp salt (or to taste)

The rest is easy peasy.

Chop the cabbage,

Chop the veggies,

crumble the cheese, dice the avocado,

throw it all in a large bowl leaving the jalapeno juice and salt to add at the last minute before stirring,

and stirrrrr.Mix everything for a good minute, maybe two.
You’ll want to make sure the minced jalapenos, salt and juice are thoroughly mixed into the entire batch so take your time stirring.

It will be so worth your effort to spend some time mixing everything well, trust me.