Recipe: Guacamole Topped With Sour Cream

Winter is an excellent time to make guacamole because luscious avocados are in season.

The better the avocado, the better the guacamole.

Avocados are amazingly nutritious with plenty of vitamins, minerals, beneficial 'good' fats.

Zelda Pande's Guacamole Topped With Sour Cream goes best with plain tortilla chips. But having it on toast has been an Insta fave for a long while.

Guacamole Topped With Sour Cream 

Serves: 3

Ingredients

For the guacamole

• 2 ripe avocados (please see the note below)
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 large tomato, finely chopped
• 1 green chilly, de-seeded, cut lengthwise, finely chopped
• 6 slices jalapeno, finely chopped
• Few sprigs green dhania or coriander or cilantro, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbsp dhania powder
• 1-2 tsp Tabasco
• Salt or sea salt (the tortilla chips that the guacamole will be served with have salt too, so go slow on the salt)
• Pinch jeera or cumin powder, optional
• Pinch black pepper powder, optional
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh green garlic, for garnish
• 2 tbsp finely chopped spring onion greens, for garnish
• Few cilantro leaves, for garnish

For the sour cream

• 4 tbsp cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp sour dahi or yoghurt

For serving

• Plain unflavoured nachos corn chips or tortilla chips

Method

• Cut each of the avocados lengthwise.
  Remove the seeds.
  Scoop out the pulp with a tbsp into a bowl and mash well with a fork.
• Add the lime juice, green dhania, tomato, onion, jalapeno, dhania powder, Tabasco, green chilly, salt, black pepper, jeera powder and mix.
  Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the green garlic and green onion.
  Keep aside covered with cling film or a firm lid, because the guacamole if exposed to air will blacken.

For the sour cream

• Whip the dahi and cream cheese together till a smooth paste.

For serving

• Serve the guacamole with sour cream on the side, or on top, and with plain, unflavoured tortilla chips.
• Guacamole is extremely versatile: It can be had on toast or in a grilled cheese sandwich.
  Or with slices of boiled potatoes, French fries, pita, fish fingers, on boiled eggs, as salad dressing or added as large dollops while serving tomato soup.
  Or rolled in a flatbread with red pesto, grated cheese, chunks of fresh mozzarella, grilled zucchini/eggplant/capsicum and lettuce.
  Or wrapped in a tortilla with buttered steamed corn, salsa, grated cheese, black beans, cilantro rice and chunks of roasted/grilled chicken.
• Store guacamole in an air-tight container or wrapped tightly with cling-film.

Inputs for this recipe from Ria Rathore, who has worked as a chef at Four Seasons, Mumbai.

Note: Finding an avocado that is just ripe enough is a challenge, but in winter the availability of good avocados is better.

A well-stocked vegetable vendor is your most reliable bet. It is always best to buy an already-ripened avocado or ready avocado, but not an over-ripe one. If you can, choose it yourself.

A ready avocado -- check it by giving it a light squeeze -- should be firm but not over-firm and not too soft either. This diagram (external link) is helpful.

Do not buy hard avocados. If you buy an unripened one, chances are it will never ripen because the vendor or grocery store probably stored it in the fridge.

A good avocado, especially a black-skinned one, is usually expensive, but gourmet grocery stores and online stores often sell highly overpriced ones of poor quality.

Store a totally ready avocado in the fridge and use soon. If still not soft enough, ripen one more day wrapped in paper. When it is cut open, if it has a few brown dots, remove those.

Plain unflavoured tortilla or nacho corn chips work best with guacamole. Heavily flavoured ones interfere with the taste of the guacamole. Some good options are unflavoured Doritos, Tostitos, Mission, Nachoz available online.

If you can't get your hands on plain tortilla chips, opt for jalapeno flavoured corn chips. Corn chips can also be made at home by deep frying corn tortillas.

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