Guacamole has a special place in my heart — it was the first recipe that I learned how to make. I wanted to learn how to make guacamole because it is a simple and healthy snack. I first found a basic guacamole recipe online when I was a senior in high school, and was shocked at how delicious it was.
Since the first time I made guac, I have looked around for other possible ingredients to add and have improved upon my recipe greatly.
Prep time: 40 minutes
Servings: 10
You will need the following:
3 Hass avocados
1 tomato
1 onion
8 stalks of cilantro
2 jalapeño peppers
1 lime
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of mustard
1 tablespoon of garlic
½ teaspoon of pepper
4 pinches of salt
1 bag of tortilla chips
Directions:
- Cut the avocados in half. Use a spoon to carefully remove the pits of the avocado.
- Put the six avocado halves into a large mixing bowl and mash with a potato masher. Mash until the avocados are a paste — use a fork if you do not have a potato masher.
- Dice the tomato after washing it and add it to the mashed avocados.
- Dice 3/4 of the onion and add it to the bowl. Feel free to add the entire onion if you are a big fan of them.
- Cut the lime in half and squeeze both halves into the bowl.
- Slice the jalapeño peppers perpendicularly to the stem. Remove the seeds and dice the pepper, and then add it to the bowl.
- Wash the stalks of cilantro. Remove them from their stems, and tear them into the bowl.
- Add the olive oil, mustard, garlic, pepper and salt.
- Stir until the mixture has a uniform consistency.
- Enjoy!
Use avocados that are soft but not too soft. Hard avocados are very difficult to mash, and very-soft avocados are not appetizing. Ideally, you want avocados that are not too firm and can be easily mashed but still green on the inside.
When removing the pit, I strongly recommend using a spoon. If you want to use a knife to remove the pit, make sure that you are not holding the avocado. I had to go to the hospital on the night before my AP Statistics exam because I made this mistake.
Interestingly, the nurse who treated me said that this is one of the most common injuries that she sees.
Also, I recommend using gloves when cutting the jalapeños. Their juice burns your hands if left on for a long period of time. I once got the juice in my eye because I touched it without washing my hands thoroughly. Since I had heard washing your eyes out with milk makes burning go away, I inferred this would help my eyes and promptly poured milk into my eyes to cure my suffering.
Anyway, this recipe has been very popular. Whenever I make it at home, family and friends always want some. My mom, for example, always takes a sizeable amount of my guacamole. It is fair though because she purchased the ingredients.
I also like to take it to get-togethers. During the summer, I made this for family friends who are all seasoned foodies. They all thought my mom had made it and were shocked when they learned who the true creator was. Many of them said that it was the best guacamole that they had ever had.
More recently, I took it to a friend’s tailgate for the first football game of the season. Again, everybody raved about it. When I went to the same tailgate for the game against Miami and did not have the guacamole with me, many were disappointed.
In addition to being a great appetizer and dip, it is also versatile. I like to spread this on toast for a quick snack or even a meal.
You can also customize this recipe. I add two jalapeño peppers because I like my guacamole spicy. Other spices can make for interesting guacamole. I have seen recipes that have fruit in them, for example. In Mexico, some people even like to add crickets.
This is a great starter recipe for those of you who are new at cooking. I hope that this delicious and simple recipe inspires your inner chef as it did for me.
Mark Feinberg is a Food Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at life@cavalierdaily.com.
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