Guacamole can be a part of your low carb diet. Unfortunately chips are not. While chips are delicious, crisp vegetables taste equally wonderful with guacamole. The bright colors of the vegetables make a pretty and appealing serving platter and the vegetables are, of course, great for you.
Fabulous guacamole is a snap to make. And yet so often it is as smooth and bland as baby food. This recipe is for chunky and flavorful guacamole, with seasonings that still allow the delicate taste of the avocado to shine through.
The Avocados
Great guacamole needs great avocados. There’s no getting around that. They need to be ripe and flavorful. Hawaii is awash in many varieties of avocados but my favorite is still the Haas. The Sharwil, grown on the Big Island, is a close second. I just read an article saying that the Sharwil is going to be exported to the Mainland, so maybe you’ll be able to find them. Beware of really large avocados. While they are less expensive, they tend to be watery and tasteless.
Want to know how to pick a ripe but not overripe avocado? I found this great how-to from a site called avocado central. It explains everything you could possibly want to know about choosing avocados.
The Guacamole
There are 2 tricks to making guacamole. If you want it to be chunky, under-mash the avocados. This is key because anything else you stir into the guacamole makes the avocados more mushy. If you don’t start chunky, then by the end of the mixing you end up with smooth instead of chunky guacamole. I love tomatoes in guacamole, but unfortunately they can make it watery. In order to avoid that, squeeze out some of the liquid from your chopped tomatoes with your hands before mixing them in.
Guacamole is customizable to your individual taste. That’s why I’ve given a range of quantity for the various ingredients. Start with a little, taste often, and add what you’d like to make your own perfect guacamole.
- 3 medium ripe avocados (preferably Hass)
- 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
- 1 medium clove garlic, minced, pressed, or mashed
- 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- a few shakes of Tabasco to taste or 1-1 1/2 teaspoons minced jalepeño (I use Tabasco)
- 1/2-1 cup diced fresh, ripe, tomato
- 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
- 2 tablespoons minced onion (optional)
- Halve avocados and scoop flesh into a medium bowl (to remove the avocado pit: set knife blade into pit with a well aimed flick; twist knife and pit will come out). Pour lemon juice over avocados before you mash them to prevent browning.
- Using a fork or potato masher, gently mash avocados into largish chunks. Make larger pieces than you'd like the end product to contain because guacamole mushes up more as you mix in the other ingredients.
- Stir in garlic, salt, Tabasco and onion and cilantro if using. Gently squeeze some of the excess liquid from the tomatoes, one handful at a time, and stir into guacamole.
- Taste for salt and spiciness and add Tabasco and salt as necessary.
- Maybe be made 6 hours ahead of time and kept covered and refrigerated. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the guacamole to prevent air from turning it brown.
- Serve with sliced vegetables such as cucumbers, celery, and bell pepper chunks.
[…] Things like cubed avocado, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and grated cheese are delicious with this. Guacamole makes a great addition as […]