Guacamole

Note: I’ll add pictures after I make this today.

Ingredients

  • Fresh hot chilies, such as Thai, serranoes or jalapeñoes
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped (~1/3 cup)
  • 6 oz. (1 medium or 2 plum) fresh tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup of coarsely chopped cilantro
  • 3 medium-large avocados
  • salt
  • juice of 1 lime
  • slices of radish for garnish
  • corn oil
  • corn tortillas

Preparation of Guacamole

  1. Roast chiles, garlic and tomatoes in small, ungreased skillet over medium heat, turning every minute until softened (5-10 minutes)
  2. Remove chili stems, garlic skins and blackened parts of tomatoes,
  3. Mash chilies, garlic into a coarse puree, using a mortar.
  4. Cut tomatoes into small bits
  5. Rise onion in a strainer under cool water, shake off excess water.
  6. Add onion, tomato and chili/garlic puree and stir.
  7. Cut the avocadoes in half, remove pit, score the avocado by cutting half inch lines to the skin using a paring knife.
  8. Scope out the avocado into the bowl with onion and chili/garlic.
  9. Stir avocado into the mixture, but don’t overdo it. Keep it chunky!
  10. Add salt and lime to taste, more lime makes it less spicy.
  11. Garnish with cilantro and radish.
  12. Set aside for flavors to mix while making chips.

Preparation of Fresh Tortilla Chips

  • Heat corn oil over medium heat in medium sauce pan
  • Cut store-bought tortillas into 6 pieces per torilla
  • Fry chips to a golden brown
  • Place chips in a paper towel lined, large bowl.
  • Best to have people eat chips as you make them.

Notes

  • You can use store bought chips. But, frying them yourself is much better.
  • It’s important not to over-mash guacamole. Over-mashed guacamole is what most people serve, and it is inferior.
  • Recipe is based on the classic guacamole recipe in Mexico: One Plate At A Time by Rick Bayless, pg. 4.

Online Mexican Cookbooks

“…UTSA’s Mexican cookbook collection [is] the largest-known trove of Mexican and Mexican-American cookbooks in North America. It started with a donation of nearly 550 books from San Antonio resident Laurie Gruenbeck in 2001, amassed during her decades of travel throughout Mexico. It now has more than 2,000 books, including some of renowned chef and scholar Diana Kennedy’s rarest books, as well as her personal papers. It has the oldest cookbooks published in Mexico (from 1831), elaborate vegetarian cookbooks from 1915 and 1920, corporate and community cookbooks, and much more.”

-Nils Bernstein, “Generations of Handwritten Mexican Cookbooks Are Now Online.” AtlasObscura.com. February 10, 2020.