Classic Guacamole

By Abigail Garcia

Last time my sister came to visit, she brought a special and beloved present with her: my grandma’s molcajete, made of very black stone and decorated with a cute pigglet´s head and its own tejolote (that’s the way we called the pestle). So I didn’t hesitate in how to use it for my first time: guacamole it had to be! Guacamole (from the aztec ahuacatl=avocado and molli=sauce) has been part of the Mexican culture for centuries and has become a delicatessen dish in the U.S. and all over the world.

A simple “wa-ka-moh-lee” in New York can cost from $4 to $16 in some fancy places, so taking the ‘risk’ and preparing it at home, is an excellent and great option. You will need to be pretty careful when choosing the avocados if you wanna have a good guacamole. Look for the hass avocados, the ones with black skin. Let them ripe to the point when they are all black, with no greenish color on the skin, and when you press them with your fingers, they feel soft and slightly firm. A good tip to make them ripen is to wrap them in newspaper and leave them in the sun or in a lighted room, until they are good enough. A very firm avocado has almost no flavor and a very soft avocado will get dark easily and have a disgusting consistency when eaten.

Of course everyone has their way of making their version of this classic, but I find that the easiest way to prepare it is to mash the avocados and add salt and lime. But for me, this is the way I like it the most. Enjoy!

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized, ripe hass avocado, roughly chopped
• 1/4 white onion finely diced
• 1 plum tomato, seeded and finely diced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 serrano chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a molcajete (mortar) or any bowl, put the chopped avocado, cilantro, lime juice, S&P and mashed them with the pestle or a fork, until you have a puree. I like to leave some chunks of avocado so that it looks more rustic.
2. Add the onion, tomato and serrano chilli and mix well. You can add more pepper or lime juice if you like it more spicy or tangy.
3. You can serve it with totopos (tortilla chips), tortillas, over a taco or quesadilla–there are so many ways you can eat guacamole!

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