Guacamole

I love avocado.

Repeat after me,"I love avocado".

Come on, with all your heart, once more..."I LOVE AVOCADO!"

I stayed away from avocado for the longest time in my life. For one, it was called 'butter fruit' back where I grew up. And for someone who has always been on the heavier side, the name instantly conjured images of eating raw butter by the pound, loading my digestive system with unwanted grease, and adding inches to the waistline. Plus, it wasn't as tasty as the mango and jackfruit, which we had in abundance anyways. So, if ever a butter fruit made its way home from the fruitseller, chances were that it would end up on my skin as a face pack.

All until, I met this unassuming guy here, on a chance trip to Mexico:

Guacamole. I was converted. The 'fat' in the avocado suddenly became 'monounsaturated fats' which did good things for the body, and the former but-it-isn't-even-sweet fruit suddenly became a vitamin-ridden,rich and creamy staple in my fruit basket. Now, i make guacamole all the time - I use it a dip for parties, spread it on bread instead of butter, mix it up while making omlettes , hell, i even added a dollop of it into the batter when i baked savoury scones the other day.  It's genius- one of those everyday things that just blows your mind with its sheer simplicity.

So, if you are one of those who cannot make up your mind about the avocado, hang on. Your life is just about to change. Trust me.

Guacamole

1 ripe avocado
Half of a medium onion
one small tomato
Half a lemon
2 green chilles
Few sprigs of fresh coriander(cilantro)
Salt to taste

1. Cut the tomato in half and take out the seeds so as to remove excess water. De-seed green chillies. Finely chop the onion, tomato, green chillies and coriander.

2. Cut avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the flesh from the skin mash it into a homogeneous pulp using a fork.

3. Add the chopped ingredients to the mashed avocado, squeeze fresh lemon juice into the mixture and season with salt.

It could be served with tortilla chips, or if your feeling especially healthy, with carrot, cucumber and celery sticks. We didn't have any of the above at home yesterday, so P (the significant Other in my life, you'll hear more about him the coming posts!) had it with some roasted  pappadoms. As for me, I slathered a healthy serving of it into a slice of multi-grain toast and topped it with some leftover tomato fry from the the day before. Deelish!

(Sorry about the quality of that last picture. Was in a hurry to gobble it down!)