Guacamole, my way
I’m often asked why I don’t have a guacamole recipe on my site. I reckon the simplest answer is because I don’t have a recipe for guacamole. Instead, I just add some ingredients to a smashed-up avocado and call it a dip.
When my mom was in the liturgical nacho stage of her life (so-called because she made her daily lunch of nachos always the exact same way) she’d whip up a batch of guacamole to go with them. She totally cheated, however, as she mashed an avocado with bottled hot sauce.
My mom can do many things very, very well, but I have to admit that this guacamole was not the best I’d eaten in my life. (And, for the record, she insists that she no longer makes guacamole this way.)
Guacamole is all about freshness and using a bottled hot sauce is anathema to this underlying principle. While you want the avocado to be the star, the other ingredients need to be heard as well, and nothing is louder than the crunch of fresh chiles, the tang of lime juice and the bite of fresh garlic.
There’s also the problem of bottled salsa having tomatoes as a base. I’m a firm believer that tomatoes shouldn’t be in guacamole; the texture is just wrong. Tomatoes are too juicy and soft and I want my accents to the avocado to be firm. I realize most people would disagree with me, but that’s OK as that’s probably the best thing about guacamole—everyone makes guacamole the way that they like it.
Take my uncle, for instance. He stirs in a heaping spoonful of mayonnaise into his guacamole, which he swears makes it super creamy. Then there’s a friend who’s been known to add sesame seeds to her guacamole, which is a subtle yet surprising accent. Obviously, the ways to make guacamole are infinite.
So, I’m happy to share with you how I make my guacamole, but what I really want to know is how you make your guacamole.
Guacamole
Ingredients
- 2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted, and cut in half
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Serrano chile, seeded and diced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Mash the avocado with a fork in a bowl or Mexican mortar and pestle (molcajete) until desired consistency. Stir in the garlic, Serrano, cilantro, lime juice, and salt, then taste and add more salt if desired. Serve immediately.
girl i will have a guac off!! i loooooove guacamole and also have a few different ways of making it. mine HAS to have garlic, lemon squeeze and cumin, at minimum… however, hot sauce would be sacrilegious! lol! but hey, that's what makes cooking so great; it's all about the personal touch that works for you!
Two questions please. My best friend's birthday is this weekend. She wants guacamole (great recipe by the way) and homemade queso – like your recipe earlier on this blog. I need to make these a few hours in advance. Any advice for keeping the guac from browning and advice on reheating the queso successfully? Thanks so much and love the blog!
My grandmother came up with a pretty original guacamole recipe, and I love it, even though it's quite different from what most people consider guacamole:
ingredients:
1 large Avocado
garlic paste (or garlic powder)
1 green pepper
1 Tsp extra virgin olive oil
preparation:
Make a paste of avocado using a fork. Add a little garlic paste (approx. 2 cloves) and 1 green chilli pepper chopped. Then, add a little olive oil and salt to taste.
You pretty much nailed it, that is the recipe my husband and I use, adding onions of course. I like the color from red onions but we use what's on hand. We just got back from a weekend in San Diego with my brother-in-law and his wife where HUGE avocados sell 6 for $2 at the local farmer's market. They have lemons, limes, oranges and pomegranates growing in their back yard. I am so jealous. If we lived in CA I would totally have a guacamole garden. 🙂
I'm awful late to this party, but I had to comment anyway because 1)guacamole is my 4th favorite food and 2) I'm in the lunchtime liturgical nacho stage of my life. (I thought I was the only one.)
My guacamole must have avocados, garlic, lime or lemon and salt. The other ingredients depend on what I have on hand – usually seranos, onion, and diced tomatoes. Today I added cilantro. (The nachos are liturgical, not the guac. :-))