Matbucha

Matbucha is basically Middle Eastern salsa which you eat with pita bread.  It is a close rival in terms of popularity with hummus.  I got introduced to this dish through The Pita House in Bexley, OH when we lived up there.  The owner was a Palestinian from Jerusalem.  When we moved away, I wanted to figure out how to make it myself and scanned a lot of recipe's.  I found Tori's to be excellent and I will post the link below. I brought this to an Xmas potluck at work last year and had two people ask me for the recipe.  I've considered trying to vary kind of canned tomato.  Most canned tomatoes contain calcium chloride, which helps to preserve the texture of the tomatoes, but in this case, I want the tomatoes to disintegrate.  It's not pico de gallo.   It's salsa.

It is amazing how much the flavor changes from when it is piping hot to when it is cold.  It interacts with the tongue completely differently.  Try it yourself. 

This is the recipe that I will be bringing to a group potluck this weekend.

http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2012/04/matbucha/

Update:

I wasn't happy with the texture using canned diced tomatoes.  The tomato chunks just didn't soften during the long cooking.  I would definitely go back to canned tomatoes without calcium chloride. I think stewed lack this, but check the label.  Or use fresh.  Just make sure they are good tomatoes and not green tomatoes strip mined in Mexico and ripened on the truck ride up to your grocery store.