Inspirecipe - Guacamole is a spicy Mexican paste made from crushed avocado and various seasonings, usually including onions, peppers, garlic and tomatoes. Guacamole is used as a condiment, an ingredient, and as an appetizer when served with tortilla chips.
Recipe I
Ingredients
4 avocados
2 tablespoons of pico de gallo
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 chopped Jalapeño OR 2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper OR 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
4 teaspoons of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon of chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 minced jalapeño OR 2 minced serrano chiles OR 2 tablespoon minced of any chile pepper like (adjust for spiciness)
Procedure
Pit the avocados. Score avocado without cutting through the skin. Scoop out one avocado with a large spoon and place in mixing bowl. Add the lime juice and stir to evenly coat the avocados. Stir in the Pico de Gallo, garlic, oil, jalapeño, salt, red pepper, and black pepper, mashing and tossing the avocado pieces until thoroughly mixed. Then scoop out the other avocados and gently mix and toss in the larger pieces. The guacamole is the right consistency when more large pieces than mashed parts remain. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.
Recipe II
The ingredients and quantities of this recipe are tuned to the tastes of one contributor; you should experiment with it. (Especially note that it has got rather a lot of lime, and you might want to add peppers, chilis or tabasco.)
Ingredients
2 very ripe avocados
1 clove of garlic, chopped
juice of 1 1/2 limes
1 small Red onion, diced very small
1 small tomato, diced very small
2 tbsp of chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)
salt to taste
Procedure
Put everything except the avocados into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Halve the avocados and scoop the flesh into the bowl. Using a large fork (or a blender), mash the avocados and combine with all the other ingredients. Taste the mixture and add anything you think necessary (be aware that the flavors, especially the lime, will soften a little by the time it is served). Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend. When it is removed from the refrigerator, there may be some brown on the top, to avoid brown, add guacamole pit to preserve. - scrape it off.
Recipe III
This alternative recipe is somewhat simpler, but gives an extremely tasty Guacamole which is great with tortilla chips or vegetables, or can be used in enchiladas, etc. It also avoids messing about with messy tomatoes, or coriander, which some people do not like the taste of. I have tried many guacamole recipes over the years, this is both the simplest, and in my opinion, the tastiest I know.
Ingredients
3 whole avocados, ripe but not over-ripe
1 lime
3 cloves of garlic
2 or 3 whole red chilli peppers
salt
Procedure
Prepare avocados by halving and removing the stone (the simplest way to do this is to hold the avocado in the palm of your hand and strike the stone squarely and firmly with a chef's knife - the knife will then pull the stone out easily. If it doesn't come out easily, the avocado isn't ripe enough). Keep one half avocado back, skin and blend the rest using a hand-held food processor, add the juice of the lime, finely chop chillies and garlic, add and blend a bit longer. Add generous salt to taste. Finally roughly chop avocado half kept back and add to paste to give chunky texture. Resulting dip will keep for several days in a fridge, shouldn't brown too much if covered (the lime juice will act as an antioxidant as well as giving a nice flavour), but in general will be found to disappear very rapidly by enthusiastic consumers!
Recipe IV (quick)
This recipe is great if you have the ripe avocados because you can make it in about five minutes.
Ingredients
3-4 ripe avocados
juice of 1/2 lime
mild store-bought salsa
Procedure
Peel, seed, and mash the avocados.
Add the juice of 1/2 lime.
Stir in store bought (but fresh) mild or medium salsa to taste.
Serve immediately.
Variant
For fancier version, make your own Pico de Gallo for use instead of store-bought salsa
Recipe V (simple)
This is a rather simple recipe, needing only avocado, lime, dried chili and salt.
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1/2 a lime
red pepper flakes - to taste
salt - to taste
Note: fresh hot peppers also work well, instead of the red pepper flakes, if available - if used, slice them finely.
Procedure
Peel the avocado and pit it, then slice the avocado into small chunks, around a centimeter or half-inch per side. Juice half the lime. Add the lime, some salt, and a moderate amount of red pepper to the avocado chunks. Stir until blended. Err on the side of adding too little spice; it's easy to add more, but too much makes the guacamole really scorch. Mash the ingredients together.
Recipe VI (simplest)
This recipe is the simplest of the group. It is very simple and more attuned to use as an additive. This recipe is a more traditional Mexican guacamole and does not include many of the features commonly associated with the dish by Americans used to the Tex-Mex Version.
Ingredients
2 ripe avocados
juice of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons (app.) chopped cilantro
salt to taste
Procedure
Pit avocado by, carefully, lodging base end of chef's knife in pit, twisting to remove, and then pinching the pit off of the knife. Remove flesh with large spoon, being careful to maintain the integrity of the flesh. Dice in large chunks and transfer to mixing bowl. Mash to desired consistency. Add lime, stir to combine. Add other ingredients, stir to combine.
Recipe VII
Similar to the first and second recipes, this variant acts very well on its own as a side dish or appetizer, also very good in fajitas. This recipe can easily be multiplied beyond the two avocado serving.
Ingredients
2 ripe avocado
2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/4 cup (app.) of cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes halved or quartered, with 1/8 cup (app.) seeded
juice of 1 lime, thoroughly juiced
4 tablespoons (app.) chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion, diced
2 jalapeño peppers, 1 seeded and 1 not, diced finely
Kosher salt and extra virgin olive oil to taste
Procedure
Pit avocado by, carefully, lodging base end of chef's knife in pit, twisting to remove, and then pinching the pit off of the knife. Remove flesh with large spoon, being careful to maintain the integrity of the flesh. Dice in large chunks and transfer to mixing bowl. Mash to desired consistency. Add lime, stir to combine. Add other ingredients, stir to combine.
Recommended Uses
Works well on beans, in tacos and other Mexican foods, or even as a topping for bread. It also can add flavor and moisture to overly dry food. However, perhaps the best use is as a dip for tortilla chips.
Variant
Avocado salad can be made by not mashing the avocado chunks. Optionally, add a grated carrot. This makes a good side dish or small meal.
Notes
True guacamole is only mashed avocado with cilantro, and onion, optionally (yet desirable) hot peppers can be mashed along with the avocado. Oil is never used, olives aren't Mexican, so olive oil should be avoided. It should also be noted that guacamole is a dip sauce originally made so it will be consumed almost instantly, meaning there is no intention to store it at all, so you can omit the use of any kind of oils for these recipes, or even lime juice. Both oil and lime juice are added so guacamole lasts a bit longer than normal.
Tips
An old Mexican trick to avoid or reduce the brown oxidized layer on the top is to put the whole avocado pit back into the guacamole once it's prepared. Never cut the pit in pieces; that will make the guacamole bitter. This trick doesn't really work though. The only way to prevent the oxidation is to eliminate the exposure to air. Covering the surface with plastic wrap so no air is in contact with the sauce works well. Be sure to include some lime in your recipe, this will prevent such oxidation.
One of the most vexing problems with guacamole is that it spoils so rapidly. Traditional strategies, such as the use of a well-placed avocado pit or the use of prodigious amounts the lime and/or lemon juice, are used to prevent premature browning of guacamole. A young chef from El Paso, Texas, has developed a much more effective approach to keep guacamole fresh for up to three times longer than traditional methods. Through trial and error, Alfred M. Gladstein found that the use of a various vegetable oils blended in to the concoction would keep it fresh longer and significantly increase the amount of time before the guacamole browns and spoils. In his studies Gladstein found that mixing olive oil in guacamole worked best when serving the dish independently or with warm foods, while vegetable oil (corn or canola) worked best when the guacamole is served with cold foods and salads. When these techniques are employed, Gladstein, who is also known as Chef Jamir, found that the refrigerated guacamole would stay fresh and green for three days or more. He also notes that when serving the guacamole at room temperature, the oil-treated dish will last up to six to eight hours before starting to brown.
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