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Marilyn's Mexican Pepita Spread
16 oz roasted and salted pepitas (reserve a few for garnish on top)
2 fresh green chili peppers, deseeded and diced
4 garlic cloves
5 scallions
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 to 2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes (drained, save and set aside juice)
juice of 1 or 2 limes (to taste)
freshly ground black pepper
Coarsely grind pepitas in a blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients and whirl until nearly smooth. Taste to check seasonings, and add more tomatoes and/or reserved juice to desired consistency. Chill to meld the flavors. Serve with crusty bread, tortilla chips or crackers.
Notes: Original recipe called for raw pepitas (to be roasted in skilled or oven), and then salt to taste, but since I used packaged roasted and salted, I added no salt. Original recipe called for 4 fresh or canned tomatoes. I used about ¾ of a 28-oz can of tomatoes. I added some of the pepitas at the end of the processing, and didn't puree them as much so there were some larger chunks of them in the dip for greater texture.
