Guacamole

This is my go to guacamole recipe. I don’t recall where I read about grating the onion. Since I don’t care for biting into chucks of onion in my guacamole, I love how grating the onion distributes the onion flavor and I don’t have to worry about a chunk of onion overwhelming the rest of the flavors.

Makes about 5 cups

Ingredients

• 5 ripe avocados
• 1 medium white or yellow onion
• 2 to 4 cloves of garlic, depending on how much you like garlic
• 1 to 2 jalapeños (optional)
• 1 bunch cilantro (optional)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes (Or other fresh tomatoes)
• 4 tablespoon lime or lemon juice, fresh squeezed is best
• 1 teaspoon of salt, and more to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste

Tools:

Medium bowl, fork, spoon, knife and cutting board

Instructions

1. Peel the onion and grate it into medium size bowl.
2. If you like a lot of garlic flavor, use 3 to 4 garlic cloves, otherwise, only use 2 garlic cloves. Peel the garlic and do one of the following: mince it, make a garlic paste with the salt, or put it through a garlic press. Add the garlic to the grated onion.
3. Add the 4 tablespoons of lime or lemon juice to the onion and garlic.
4. Stir the onion and garlic together with the lime or lemon juice. This helps prevent the strong raw taste of the garlic and onion.
5. Add the salt and pepper to the onion mixture.
6. If you are using the jalapeños, seed and dice. Use 2 jalapeños, if you want more heat. (I often leave the seeds, since I like the heat.) Add to the onion mixture.
7. If you are including the cilantro, chop the cilantro finely and add to the onion mixture. Stir together.
8. Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the flesh with a spoon into the bowl with the onion mixture. (To remove the pit, I hit it with my knife blade and then twist. The pit pops out and it is stuck on the knife. I carefully push the pit off the knife.)
9. Using a fork, mash the avocados against the side of the bowl, to the texture you would like for your guacamole, chunky or smooth.
10. Stir everything in the bowl together.
11. Quarter the cherry tomatoes, add to the bowl with the avocado, and stir. If using a different type of tomato, slice into 1/2 chunks
12. Taste for salt and pepper and add more if needed. You can add more jalapeños or lime/lemon juice to your taste as well.

Notes:

If you like onion chunks in your guacamole, you can dice the onion. If dicing the onion for chunks, you might want to use a red onion.

For a party, I make two versions of this, one without cilantro and one with cilantro, and I clearly mark them. Some people have a gene that makes cilantro taste soapy.

If you have leftovers or are making it the day before a party, when you put it in the fridge, put it in an air tight container. You can put a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to help prevent browning.

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