Guacamole and Corn Chips

In Swank & Dugan's book The Multiple Sclerosis Diet, there is a section in the recipe part called The Cocktail Hour, with recipes for dips and snacks to enjoy when you have your evening cocktail.  Got to love it!  There is a recipe for guacamole in the book, but this is the guacamole I've been making for the past few years, and I think it's pretty tasty.

Ingredients:
1 ripe Hass avocado
half a fresh green chilli finely chopped
1 tablespoon Spanish (red) onion, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
juice of 1 lime
pinch sea salt
black papper
Corn tortillas or other flat bread to make corn chips


Method:
Prepare your ingredients.

Put half the onion, half the chilli and a pinch of salt into a mortar and pestle and mash to a liquid paste.

Add the avocado - remove the skin, stone and roughly chop the flesh.

Add half the lime juice and roughly mash.  Make it as smooth or chunky as you like.

Add the remaining onion, chilli, and the coriander leaves and stir through.

Now taste the guacamole and add more lime juice until you are happy with the level of tangy-ness.  Adjust any other seasonings.

This recipe is based on the wonderful recipes by Thomasina Miers, in her book Mexican Food Made Simple.  Thomi won Masterchef UK, and has her own Mexican restaurants called Wahaca in London (see here).  I have been lucky enough to meet Thomi twice - once at the Borough Markets in London where she was filming a cooking demonstration for Market Kitchen, and once at her restaurant in Westfield London.  She was really lovely and was happy to have a chat.

Now for the corn chips.  Normally you would eat guacamole with totopos - deep fried corn tortilla chips, but I'm trying to eat healthy so I do mine in the oven.  I haven't found any corn or flour tortillas that don't have the 282 preservative in them.  Funny, there was public outrage over 282 in bread, and all the bakeries removed it, but it's still used in crumpets, muffins, torillas, and flat breads.  The best I have found so far is corn mountain bread wraps.

Brush (or spray) the wraps with a little oil.  I used avocado oil, you can also use EVOO. Then add some seasoning.  I used salt flakes and a squeeze of lime juice.  Cut the wrap into triangles and place on a baking tray.  Cook in a 180C / 350F oven for only 3-4 minutes, until they are lightly browned and crunchy.

These corn chips are very thin and crunchy.   The chips will probably break if you try to scoop up the guacamole so you may have to use a teaspoon or spreader.  If you can find fresh tortillas, they will be thicker. 

So enjoy this tasty guacamole and corn chips for your next 'Cocktail Hour'.

Notes & Variations:  Adjust the seasonings used to suit your taste.  Other seasonings that are popular in guacamole recipes are ground cumin and jalapeno chilli.

Guacamole with tomato & garlic - add a small clove (or part) of garlic with the red onion and chilli when you make the smooth paste and the beginning, then add half a tomato that has been deseeded and diced at the end.

Here are some seasoning suggestions for baking your own corn chips or pita breads - for use with any dip not just guacamole:

• Extra-virgin olive oil, crushed garlic, and either chives or rosemary
• lemon juice and black pepper
• dukkah
• paprika
• cumin
• salt and vinegar - balsamic vinegar is good

Seasonal:  A good outline of the types of avocados grown in Australia and their growing season can be found at Australian Avocados here.

Nutrition: Avocados are a good source of vitamin C, dietary fibre, vitamin K and folate (self nutrition data)

Interesting Facts:  Guacamole comes from the Aztec word for avocado 'guac' and sauce 'mole'.

Did  you know that avocados do not ripen on the tree?  It's actually when they are picked from the tree that triggers the ripening process.  To ripen an avocado store it in a brown paper bag at room temperature for 2-5 days.  Once ripe store it in the fridge for a couple of days.  If you only use half an avocado store the half with the stone still in it in the fridge.  The surface will brown, but you can scrape this away and use the avocado below.

The best way to tell if a Hass avocado is ripe is by the colour of it's skin.  As it ripens, it changes from green, to purple, to a dark black.

Green skin avocados such as Shepard and Reed do not change colour.  To see if they are ripe gently press the stem.  If it's soft, it's ripe.

Happy cocktail hour