Guacamole

"If you have an avocado - you have a meal!"

Basic Guacamole

Avocados are soft, buttery and nourishing and they blend so well with so many flavours. A guacamole can be made in many ways, the base is always avocado but from there you can add a variety of different ingredients. You can use guacamole as a dip (lovely with sweet potato crisps), you can use it in wraps, in sushi and it works as a mayonnaise substitute.

Ingredients

• Avocado
• Lemon Juice
• Garlic cloves
• Salt

Method

Scoop out the flesh of two ripe avocados and put them into a small blender. Add the juice of half to a whole lemon (depending on how sour you want the guacamole), add a clove of crushed garlic and a pinch of sea salt. The more lemon you add, the more salt you may need, but do taste it before adding. 

Blend all the ingredients until you reach the desired texture, be it chunky or smooth.

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Variations

These extras can be added after the blending to add texture as well as flavour. 

• Chopped red chilli
• Finely diced red onion
• Chopped coriander
• Diced fresh tomato
• A pinch of cumin
• A pinch of corriander
• A sprinkle of smoked paprika
• Use lime juice instead of lemon juice

Sometimes I choose not to blend the avocado, I just chop it up finely and add chopped red onion as well as tomatoes and corriander and make an avocado salsa for a change of texture. All these flavours work really well together. Crunchy, sour, sweet, zingy, smooth, and a hit of heat. I love to have a bowl of guacamole with homemade salsa and my favourite green tortillas for dipping.

Holy Hummous

"Hummous is an international staple. It has many variations and has inspired hummous style dips made with anything from fresh peas to courgettes and no chick peas at all!"

I used to work in a Greek restaurant when I was a teenager. They had the most amazing hummous which was made by a Cypriot chef. He used to serve it to me, spread out on a plate, sprinkled with fresh chopped tomatoes and smoked paprika, finished with a squeeze of lemon juice. Delicious, try it!

Here is my favourite basic hummous recipe.  I like to make a big batch because the whole family love it, half the recipe if you want to make less. It will keep in the fridge for about 4/5 days.

Ingredients

• 2 cans of cooked chickpeas (440g drained weight)
• 250g light tahini
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 100ml of ice cold water (you can substitute some of the water for extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 tsp sea salt

Method

Drain the chickpeas and empty into a blender. Add a little of the ice cold water and blend until it is like a stiff paste. If possible, keep the machine running while you drizzle in the tahini, then the lemon juice, garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt. Slowly drizzle in the cold water and keep blending until the hummous is really smooth and silky. If you leave the hummous to 'set' for about half an hour, it will become stiffer. It is also best served at room temperature, so take it out of the fridge about half an hour before serving.

Hummous is a wonderfully nutritious. It is packed full of protein which comes from not just the chickpeas but also from the sesame seeds. Together they make a complete protein. If you have a little pot of homemade hummous and half an avocado and you have a wonderful meal. Enjoy this with some crunchy, nutritious green tortillas, or a bowl of vegetable batons for a really nourishing snack.