Body Conscious Ramblings

I’ve been introduced to the tasty dip/spread in it’s commercial form when I first came to North America. But like anything commercial and prepackaged it didn’t meet with my expectations. It was yummy alright, but something made me think that home-made guacamole would have been way better. And of course that was the case. Once I figured out what goes into the mixture I made it myself and never again bought the commercial stuff:

Things you will need:

• 2-5 ripe avocados (I usually use about 3, because I am the only person who eats the stuff chez moi, but if you are planning a party use more)
• 2 spring onions chopped.
• 2 small ripe tomatoes.
• 3-5 cloves of garlic or 2 tsp of garlic paste.
• Juice of 1 lemon or 3 Tbsp of lemon juice from a bottle (this is an important ingredient, DO NOT skip it)
• Pinch of salt, 3 Tbsp of chili powder (or more depending on how spicy you want it)

Things you will need to do:

For lack of a better word, peel your avocados and put the pulp in a bowl together with lemon juice. Now, the lemon juice is important not so much for the taste, but for keeping your guacamole looking good. See the darkened spots on my avocado? That means it’s tiny bit too ripe (I let it sit on the counter too long before I decided to make the guacamole) and with time the entire mixture will blacken. This is a process called oxidation and lemon juice slows down that process.

Next, mash your avocados like you would a potato. Now, only the right kind of ripe avocado will mash easily. If it’s not ripe enough, it will just not mash and you’ll have chunks of it in your mixture that will produce the wrong kind of texture and taste in your guacamole. If it’s too ripe it will mash too much and you’ll feel like you’re eating baby food. In order to pick the right ripeness you’ll need to squeeze the avocado in the supermarket and make sure that it’s not too soft. You can buy it green if you want and then let it ripen chez toi, or if you need to use it right away you will look for avocados that have dark brown skin and are slightly soft, but not so soft that you can put your finger through it

Tip: if you want the avocado to ripen quicker, remove the little button on the top of the avocado that used to connect it to the branch when it was growing.

Voilà, my mashed avocado.

Next chop some tomatoes and……

….spring onions.

Add garlic and spices, mix well and you’re done.

Enjoy! Store it in the refregirator, but you have to remember that it won’t keep forever and with time, even though you added the lemon juice, it will darken. So make only enough for 1-2 days.

Nutritional Value:

1 serving: 1-2 cups.