Make this salsa monja recipe -a sauce cum side dish invented by the nuns in the Philippines. Perfect to pair with fish, meat, or just as a dip and relish!
I swear I have not heard of Salsa Monja till my Gourmet in A Bottle session at The Maya Kitchen with Chef Mira Angeles of Spell Kitchen.
And I actually lived with Monghas when I was in High School. Well not exactly Monghas, but Madres in Concordia College. I was a troubled youth in High School (-till College actually, lol) and my mom was forced to put me in a dormitory. But a story for another time, perhaps. Hehe.
So, Salsa Monja, according to a quick search in Google is a nuns’ sauce dating back to Spanish times. It’s a side dish or more like an accompaniment for most fried dishes. Its other more descriptive name is shallot and olives pickle. It’s something like our Atchara or Pickled Papaya. It’s tangy, yet creamy at the same time. I brought home a jar and it was even better after 3 days.
Salsa Monja Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, toasted
- 1/2 cup olive brine
- 1/2 cup achuete oil
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup black olives, chopped
- 1/4 cup green olives, whole
- 1/3 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup small onions (Sibuyas Tagalog)
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- salt and pepper
Instructions:
- Soak breadcrumbs in olive brine.
- Heat achuete oil, add garlic, olives and onions. Saute for 5 minutes then add vinegar.
- Add breadcrumbs and chicken stock and let it simmer. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir from time to time to avoid the breadcrumbs from sticking to the pan.
This is the lunch we had that day, all bottled gourmet dishes. I wish they had more rice!
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April Bewell
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The Pinay Mommy Blog

Relax Lang Mom is an everyday foodie blog for the busy Pinay mom.
My name is April. I'm a raketera mom, always busy with something and I blog about the quick, the easy, the simple. I'm here to help you relax and save your sanity!
Get your food fix, recipes, life hacks, homeschooling, and productivity tricks here!
I’m just a regular mom like you. And like you, I know, being a mom, everyday is a battle. And it’s not a job for the weary. With this blog, I want to reach out to all the moms out there, who, inundated by the perfect mom of ads, magazines, and social media, try to be all things and ends up depleted, exhausted, unhappy, depressed.
In the search of being a perfect mom, we miss the fun of watching our kids grow, leaving our marriage and relationships unattended.
And everything becomes an unending list to check off. We produce picture perfect homes, gleamingly clean kitchen, Instagram worthy food that we forget to celebrate little successes like finally cleaning that window you’ve been meaning to clean this whole summer, or getting your husband to fix the dripping sink, or your son fixing his bed on his own without nagging.
So yes, let’s all leave that perfect mom idea behind.
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