Guacamole

Every now and then my eldest son asks for Tacos for dinner, which to me involves Knocking up some seasoned minced beef getting some hard tacos, some soft flour tortillas, a bag of plain nachos, a tin of refried beans, the ingredients for a tomato salsa, sour cream and of course a couple of avocados.

Not a problem? Well, it is if you can’t find ripe avocadas as this dish will just not work.

Okay no real need for it, but I don’t do things by half. If my son wants tacos then we will have a Mexican Fiesta! I’ll get a six pack of whatever mexican beer I can find, unfortunately it’s usually Corona, but they’re okay. I always have a bottle of Tequila in my cabinet and I even have a really good Mescal too! Thanks to my friend Red and the Maria Bonita Restaurant in Berlin.

So, if you want to make Guacamole you will need to either plan a week in advance so that your avocado is ripe or find out where you can buy the ripened avocado.

What is Guacamole? Well, this dip originated with the Aztecs in Mexico some few hundred years ago and was basically ripe avocados mashed with sea salt. As the name suggests in Nahuatl which is an Aztec dialect, āhuacatl (avocada) and molli ( we now call it mole, which means sauce). Of course the recipe calls for a bit more than ripe avocado and sea salt but you can make it to your own taste.

On with the recipe. I usually buy Haas avocados and usually get then when they are dark and soft.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large tomato, peeled and de-seeded
• A good squeeze of lime juice
• 1 green chilli , chopped. More if you like it with more spice
• Salt to taste
• Chopped fresh coriander to finish

Preparation method:

You can do this in a pestle and mortar or in a large bowl, mash the avocado, add the crushed garlic and the chopped chilli. Dice the tomato and add to the avocado and stir it all together. Add a squeeze of lime and some salt until you have the right taste, then transfer to a nice bowl and chill in the fridge. This can keep in the fridge for a while, but avocado will go brown after a while. The lime juice actually keeps the dip from browning for a while longer, not just for flavouring.

To finish:

Chop up some fresh coriander and sprinkle over the top before serving.

Tip

I usually throw some nachos on a baking sheet and sprinkle with some grated cheese and bake until the cheese has melted. Then dip the nachos in the guacamole or spread the guacamole onto your flour tortilla when making Tacos.

Enjoy!