Guacamole (Avocado Dip)
Guacamole is an avocado dip of Mexican origin. It can be eaten on its on, as a kebab filing, a salad topping and as a dip for nachos. I wanted to learn to make guacamole and was surprised how incredibly easy it was to make when I tried – only a few ingredients, less than 10 minutes and no need for special tools such as blender. The ease of making meant I only make it just before serving, so that it always has a pretty and fresh green hue to it.
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When avocado is cut and exposed to air, it will oxidise and turn brown after some time. Adding lime or lemon juice to guacamole slows down the browning. Any leftovers can be kept in an air-tight container, or cling wrapped in a bowl before being refrigerated.
These are the ingredients I used for my home-made guacamole. I substituted with local ingredients – for example, jalapeno is found only at gourmet supermarkets here and can be quite expensive, so I used green chilli padi (bird’s eye chilli) which is cheap and in abundance here.
The key to making guacamole is ripened avocado. The skin should be soft when pressed with fingers. When cut open in halved (pit removed), one can easily cut the avocado flesh using a spoon as shown above (I’m using a wooden butter spreader).
If the avocado is perfectly ripe, you can scrap out the flesh easily.
Add the cut avocado in a bowl and mash it up with the back of a spoon. If you like a chunkier texture just like me, you don’t have to be too thorough about mashing it.
Add the rest of the chopped ingredients.
Mix everything evenly, season with salt and pepper and it’s ready :D
Guacamole (Avocado Dip) Recipe
This recipe uses 1 avocado. The recipe doubles up well – for example, use about 5 cherry tomatoes, 2 limes and 2 bird eye’s chilli if using 2 avocado.
Ingredients:
- 1 ripe avocado skin is soft when pressed with fingers
- half jalapeno or 1 green (bird’s eye) chilli padi to taste; de-seeded and sliced thinly
- 2 to 3 cherry tomatoes finely chopped
- juice (about 3/4 tsp) of 1 small lime
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
- 1 tbsp chopped spring onions or chopped shallots
- sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Directions:
- Cut avocado in half lengthwise, avoiding the seed in center. Twist the avocado halves to separate. Remove the seed. Using a spoon, cut the avocado to pieces and scrap out the flesh.
- Place avocado flesh in a mixing bowl and mash it up until creamy but still chunky. Add the rest of the ingredients and give everything a good mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Use guacamole as a salad topping, as a filling in kebabs, serve with plain nachos or even eat it on its own. Place leftover guacamole in a cling-wrapped bowl or in a tight-lid container in the fridge.