Guacamole was high on my list while visiting Mexico City. CDMX is an amazing place with 23 million inhabitants, making it one of the largest cities in the world. While there, I had the opportunity to taste real Mexican food from market stalls to world ranked restaurants.
I make a mean guacamole myself and I wanted to see how it stacked up against the locals. The best I found was at Nicos, a well respected restaurant. Prepared tableside, the ingredients were as fresh as they come and it was excellent. Now here’s the verdict.
I like mine better. It’s true that fresh home made guac can’t be beat. Not even in Mexico and certainly not by the stuff you buy in a plastic tub at the grocery. The secret is in the ingredients and seasoning to your own taste.
Avocado 101
Choose your avocados carefully and wait for them to ripen. It’s very tempting to become impatient, but using anything less than a ripe one will always result in disappointment.
Avocados don’t ripen on the tree, they ripen after harvest. Rest assured, unless they have been in that grocery bin a long time they are not ripe. The best way to ripen avocados at home is to place them in a paper bag with a banana or other fruit, close it and wait. The ethylene gas released by the fruit will hasten the ripening of the avocado. Check it daily and when it is both dark and soft when you squeeze it, but not mushy, it’s ripe. My final bit of advice is to plan accordingly and make only what you will eat immediately because guacamole will oxidize and turn brown quickly when exposed to air. Print
Home-Made Guacamole
Fresh ripe avocado with red onion, tomato, cumin, jalapeno, garlic, cilantro and lime
Ingredients
- 3 ripe avocados – flesh only
- 2 TBL fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 medium size red onion – diced
- 2 jalapeno peppers -seeded and minced
- 1–1/2 roma tomatoes – seeded and diced
- 2 garlic cloves – minced
- 1 TBL cilantro – chopped
- blue corn or multi-color chips
Instructions
- Mix the salt, cumin and cayenne pepper
- Slice the avocado longitudinally around the center, remove the pit and scoop out the flesh
- Mash the avocado thoroughly with the lime juice
- Add the seasonings a little at a time as you mash
- Mix in the cilantro, onion and jalapeno
- Taste and adjust salt and cayenne – if necessary
- Fold in 3/4 of the diced tomato
- Place the remaining tomato on top as garnish
- Serve with blue or multi-color real corn chips
And just one more thing…