Fresh guacamole is one of my favourite snacks, though due to the amount of work involved I don’t have it very often. There is absolutely no store bought alternative. Most of the powders you can buy still require avocado, which means you’re still working pretty hard for it. Most guacamole dip products are green sour cream. Occasionally you’ll find a store bought guacamole that contains avocados, but it’s so much tastier when fresh.
To find out for yourself, start with some ripe avocados. They should be soft, but not squishy, though slightly over-ripe is preferable to under-ripe in this situation. To cut your avocados, set them down lengthwise and press your knife in, lengthwise. It won’t penetrate all the way, but that’s fine, you’re just hitting the pit. Now rotate the avocado to make a cut all the way around. Remove the knife and twist the two halves of avocado apart gently but firmly.
You should come out with one hollow side and one side holding the pit. To remove the pit you can use a spoon to dig it out. A quicker but more advanced technique is to flick the edge of your knife down into the pit of the avocado so that it penetrates and sticks inside the pit, and then twist the knife. The pit should twist free of the avocado and you can then discard it.
Ingredients: Serves 4
- 4 ripe avocados
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 large ripe tomato, chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon or lime
- 2 Jalapeno peppers, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Splash of hot sauce
- 1 cup sour cream (optional)
- 1 tsp chili powder or South-West seasoning blend
- A bowl of your favorite tortilla chips to serve with it
There are many ways to remove the avocado fruit from the skin – you can score the insides and then flip it inside out, or you can simply use a spoon to dig out the delicious avocado goodness within. As soon as you get the avocados all peeled and pitted, set them in a large mixing bowl and add the lemon juice and hot sauce. This will help prevent them from oxidizing.
Next, add the sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic and jalapeno and mix together thoroughly, mashing the avocado well. Finally, combine the remaining ingredients and mix together.
Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. This should keep for a day or two in the fridge if well covered. If it seems to discolor just scrape off the darker layer on-top to reach the fresh guacamole below. If you made to much, you can also decide to freeze the Guacamole and eat it later.
