Recipe Post: Corn and Jalapeño Guacamole

Happy Vegan Viernes! (Is that a thing? Someone must have thought of this, with Meatless Mondays and all.) This is the first fully vegan recipe of the blog.

My Church small group had a taco night last Tuesday, so of course I took the opportunity to make a blog post out of what I made for it.

At the risk of sounding like a total hipster, I liked avocados before they were cool. Avocados and me go way back. Now even Subway has them. (Sorry, Subway, I love you but you're not exactly gourmet.)

In respect for that love for this now super-popular fruit (Yes, it's a fruit), I decided to make one of my favorite recipes for it: Guacamole.

Not just any guacamole, mind, but a beautiful marriage of my edited version of the guacamole recipe in Lorraine Turner's Ethnic Cuisine cookbook and Chili's now-retired roasted corn and jalapeño guacamole. I am on Chili's mailing list and every two hours or so they used to send me coupons for that dang stuff, tempting and conning me through their front doors, and then they stopped making it. Jerks. (I still love you, too, Chili's. Just a little less, that's all.)

I would like to say here that my darling husband once informed me, while we were still dating, that he hated guacamole--this being after I had stuffed his face with it for dinner. The silly man had been so concerned over offending me that he would have rather stomached one of his most-loathed culinary enemies than offend me.

The redeeming moral of this story is that he told me this to show how much he truly did like my guacamole, because it was the first of its kind that he actually enjoyed. I redeemed guacamole in his eyes and he now thoroughly enjoys my homemade version, and frequently steals chip-fulls of mine when I order it out.

Let's get down to it:

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes.
Serves: 2-8, depending on whether it's a meal or an ingredient in a meal

Ingredients:

4 ripe avocados
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic (or one clove)
1 large jalapeño pepper, diced and seeds removed
1/3 can of corn, drained
1 tomato
3 tbsp cup olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste

You may notice there is no cilantro in this recipe. That is because I have a confession--I don't like cilantro. If it stayed far away from my mouth for the rest of my life, my world would be a better place.

...Okay so I don't hate it that much, but I really don't like it. Hubby hates it more than I do, which is reason #1,037 why I love this man.

However, if you do like cilantro, you have my grudging blessing to add it.

Anyway. Back to it:

Directions:


1. Start with the stars of the dish: The Avocados.

P.S., Use better-looking avocados than I did. I made a bad choice with the store I got them at, this time. It still tasted good!

Slice them lengthwise, remove pit and peel. (Since I made this right before we left, I mixed it right in our Pyrex travel dish!) Cut away any bruised areas or dark spots and discard.

Mash with a fork, or a potato masher like me. Potato mashers were secretly invented to make guacamole preparation easier.

You can leave some chunks if you want, or you can just about turn them into an avocado puree. It's all up to personal preference! I like to leave chunks, myself.

2. Chop the onion.

Add the garlic...unlike me, because I forgot, because I am still sick. Whoops. (Almost better though, so I can't use that excuse for much longer. It's a bitter-sweet moment.)

[Insert garlic that you will use here]

On to the jalapeño!

Remove all the seeds from the jalapeño. This entire section contains most of the heat. All of that burn-your-mouth spice is in those seeds and the inner flesh of the jalapeño.

All of the adds-a-nice-bite-of-spice is contained in the outside of the jalapeño. Mince this part and chuck the rest. If you want a little extra heat, leave the seeds in, but I prefer without.

Mix those both in there.

And don't forget the corn! I love the sweetness that it adds.

Finally (for solid stuff, anyway), add some tomato. I don't normally do that with this recipe, but I like adding a little bit of color where I can, and this batch of tomatoes I have is really good!

See those seeds and junk inside?

Take those out. (If really badly chipping nail polish bothers you, look away now.)

Normally I'm totally okay with it, but I always find when you chop a tomato and leave it raw in a recipe, those seeds and such make everything a little messier.

Chop up what's left and add it in. (Look at that color!)

3. Combine with olive oil and lemon juice. You are more than welcome to use a fresh lemon, if you are fancier than me.

Add salt if needed.

And that's it!

Delicious!

I also like to smooth it out as a last step so it's all pretty and level when it's served.

Better for storage, too, since it makes this next step easier! If you want to keep guacamole overnight, sprinkle some more lemon juice (or lime juice!) over top and refrigerate. It helps to keep the avocados from oxidizing.

Serve with tortilla chips, or as an ingredient in tacos. This time, it was an ingredient for us as Hubby, our small group and I all happily stuffed our faces with tacos and/or burritos and/or loaded nachos.

Whatever you choose to do with it, enjoy!