Mexican cuisine
Guacamole
Avocado, lime, onion and chilli crushed with a fork. No blender and no sour cream: both turn it into a dip rather than guacamole.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 0 min
- Total
- 15 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
Ingredients
- Avocado — ripe3
- Lime — juiced1
- Red onion — finely chopped½
- Jalapeño — seeds removed1
- Coriander3 sprig
- Tomato — seeded and diced1
- Saltto taste
Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.
Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.
Method
- 1
Halve the avocados, remove the stones and scoop the flesh into a bowl. A ripe avocado gives under a finger without collapsing.
5 min
- 2
Add the lime juice and the salt straight away. The acid needs to reach the flesh before it starts to brown.
1 min
- 3
Crush with a fork to a coarse, uneven mass. Lumps of avocado should remain — that is the texture you want.
3 min
- 4
Fold in the onion, the jalapeño and the coriander, taste, and adjust the salt or lime. The tomato goes in last and gently, so it does not water everything down.
4 min
- 5
Serve at once. If it has to wait, press cling film directly onto the surface — air is what darkens it.
1 min
About the dish
Guacamole lives on texture. A blender turns avocado into a smooth paste and knocks the air out of it, which is a different food entirely. Crush it with a fork and leave lumps.
The lime is not only for flavour: acid slows the browning and holds the colour. It will not stop it completely, which is why guacamole is made just before it is eaten rather than in advance.
Worth knowing
- — Leaving the stone in the bowl does nothing for the colour. Only keeping air off it works.
- — A hard avocado ripens in a couple of days in a paper bag next to a banana.
Nutrition
Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.
- Calories
- 230 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Fat
- 20 g
- Carbs
- 12 g