This is your basic Guacamole – delicious and reliable, its just that we made it in the Yucatan on our trip to Mayakoba. Sooo…its “Yucatan Guacamole”!
That said….there was ONE minor difference in the preparation that was fun to try.
Chef Sandy had us mix the flavoring into a paste in a mortar & pestle – by “flavoring” I mean the garlic (savory), roasted habanero pepper (heat) and coarse kosher salt. We started by roasting the habanero over the open flame of the gas stove (can also be achieved by broiling). Then de-stemming, de-veining and de-seeding and tossing into mortar. Following the pepper, we added the garlic and course salt and starting mixing and pressing until we had a noticeable paste. The coarseness of the salt help to break down the garlic and the roasted pepper – along with the grinding and pressing of the pestle – you end up with a very flavorful taste punch that you add to the main ingredients to give you one tasty guac.
It’s also fun using a mortar and pestle…. so there’s that.
One final mention – and this may be controversial – is the use of tomatoes! I am generally on team “No Tomato” in my quac… and I think that’s perfectly ok. That said, i’m not gonna deny that, if anything, tomotoes really are great for some added color. They don’t offer much of a taste in my opinion – but they are pretty – so why not? The only thing to be aware of is added water that comes with tomatoes. You don’t want to end up with watery quac – and tomotoes have lots of water in them. SO… a few things: 1. use Roma tomatoes – they are rough and fleshy, not as juicy as your standard tomato, 2. only use the flesh – discard the seeds and the gelatinous “guts” of the tomato, you only want the firmer flesh…not the juicy bits.
YUCATAN GUACAMOLE
This is enough for 2 to 4 people for a snack or appetizer – scale up as needed
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Garlic, 1 large clove (more to taste)
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1/2 to 1 Habanero Pepper, roasted (to taste)
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2 teaspoons Salt, coarse Kosher
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2 Avocados, halved and pitted and chopped
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1/2 White Onion, diced
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Black Pepper, to taste
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1/2 Cup Cilantro, chopped
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1 Roma Tomato, chopped
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Juice of 1 lime
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Prepare Habanero / Garlic paste
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Roast Habanero either over stove top or in broiler. Roast until skin is mostly scorched, rotating to all sides.
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Remove the stem, veins and seeds (keep some seeds for more heat) and roughly chop
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Roughly chop garlic
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Combine garlic and pepper and salt in a mortar & pestle and grind into a paste. If you don’t have a mortar & pestle, just find a way to mash it all up good – either with a spoon in bowl, or in a small food chopper or small food processer ( I think regular sized processors would be too big to catch the relitively small amount of garlic and pepper)
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1 thought on “Yucatan Guacamole”
DG!!