This is the first time we've actually made homemade Pico de Gallo; we should have done much earlier. It's got a nice fresh flavour that's the perfect antidote when you feel like you've been eating nothing but frozen, canned, or packaged food for far too long.

(Originally from The Complete Vegan Kitchen).

• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups (500ml) seeded diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp (30ml) lime juice
• ¼ tsp (~1ml) salt
• black pepper to taste (cracked or ground, as you will)
• 2 tbsp (30ml) olive oil
• 1 tbsp (15ml) minced cilantro

Mix in a bowl; let stand at least 15min for the flavours to commingle.

Side tip: if you're a tomato-processing noob (like me), one of the faster ways to seed tomatoes is to cut them in half around the equator (ie, not through the stem or base, but around the other way) and then squeeze each half out over a bowl. This gets rid of most of the seeds, and you can clean the stragglers out with a spoon or finger if you want. After this, you can optionally flatten each half against your cutting board with the heel of your palm to give a nice, two-dimensional, easy to dice tomato.