Chunky Guacamole

Due to a combination of being on holidays and extreme laziness, I have been very neglectful of the poor blog. I plan to put that right. Starting with this recipe for a fresh, tasty guacamole.

I could never get the fascination with this dip. Anytime I had tasted it, it was bland, gloopy and generally unappealing. Then having read a few different recipes for it I decided to give it another go. The difference between shop bought and freshly made guacamole is amazing! Made from scratch it is so, so tasty. The flavours really sing and it is mouth watering. I made this on holidays as part of a barbecue and people loved it. Granted, the fact a beer or three had been consumed may have helped, but still, I thought it worth sharing.

The secret I find is to keep the avocado a bit chunky. Make it as close to eating as possible to keep the colour vibrant. If you do need to make it a little in advance, cover the dip with cling film, making sure the cling is in direct contact with the surface so that no oxygen can get to the avocado. It slows the discolouration.

There is no hard and fast rule about ingredients. Taste this as you make it to see what seasoning is needed and make it to your own tastes. For example, you may not like garlic so leave it out, or use less. The only thing I would say is I really do not like any dairy or mayonnaise in guacamole. I see recipes with sour cream, crème fraiche and mayo and I think it destroys the flavour. Serve it to the side if you like.

Be imaginative with the dip. I served it with tortilla chips but serve with raw veg if you want to be healthier. It is lovely with a burger, or a club sandwich. It goes particularly well with bacon or smoked salmon and eggs if you want to add it to your breakfast. I like to serve it with fajitas, my breakfast burritos and with chilli too.

Ingredients:

2 avocados
1 tomato
2 spring onions
1 small green chilli
Juice of a lime
A small bunch of fresh coriander
1 clove of garlic
1/3 tsp fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Very finely chop the chilli, coriander and spring onions. You can use red onions if you wish but the subtle flavour of the spring onions works well here.
Mince or grate your garlic but only add half of it to the chilli and onion mix.
Halve your tomato and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Discard the seeds and finely dice the flesh. Add this to the chilli.
When you are nearly ready to serve, halve the avocados, remove the stones and scoop out the flesh. I like to slice and dice them into approx. 0.5cm chunks. Mash it with a fork but leave quite a few chunky pieces in it.
Combine this with the chilli, coriander, onion, tomato and garlic. Mix it together very well.
Press down and roll the lime before slicing, this is supposed to make it easier to extract the juice. Add half of the lime juice and the salt.
Taste the guacamole at this stage. You can add the remainder of the garlic if you like. Limes vary in the amount of juice they produce so judge for yourself if you need more juice. This lime was particularly juicy and I only needed half.
Grind a little black pepper and sprinkle some more chopped coriander over the top.
Serve immediately.