Guacamole with a Secret Flavor Kick

If you've been flowing my daily Instagram (foodmakesmehappy) update, you might notice some wine pictures over the past few weeks. Those are the images taken during WSET Level 1 and Level 2 - basically wine and spirits classes. In order to gain better understanding of alcoholic beverages with emphasis in wine, I've been taking classes this summer. For a food blogger, it's fun to see how wine and food interacts with each other and what kind of new flavors can evolved when pairing these two individual items together.

Every week, besides different types of wines, there are also food and snacks of all kinds. I brought this guacamole to class few weeks ago, not for pairing with wine but for satisfying the urge of snacking around while consuming alcohol. Here's the recipe:

Guacamole with a secret flavor kick -

Ingredients?

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 1 lime
• 1/2 medium sized onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 red chili
• 1 small bundle/about 1 tablespoon when chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
• Few dashes of Tabasco sauce
• Served with: tortilla chips, plain/slightly salted cookies, of toasts

How?

It's fairly easy to make a yummy guacamole. If time is constrained, you can simply use store bought salsa and mix it with ripe avocado. However, if you want guacamole with more customized flavors, try making it from the scratch and the result will be much more satisfying.

Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds. Chop the remaining into small cubes. Peel and chop the onion into small cubes too. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves till almost to paste form. Discard the stem and seeds, then finely chop the red chili. Finely chop the cilantro and save a few leaves for garnish.

Here's one trick to make the onion less spicy - Simply soak the chopped onion cubes in icy cold water for about five minutes. Drain the liquid and dry well with kitchen towel before mixing with other ingredients. However, this step is optional since some people like the spicy kick from the onion.

Put the tomato cubes, onion, cilantro, garlic, and chili in a big bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and mix well, let it sit for about 1 minute and discard any excess liquid.

Squeeze in 1 lime juice and some grated lime skin. Add a few dashes of Tabasco. The key to our secret flavor kick is ground cumin. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin to the bowl and mix well.

You won't even know there's cumin in the guacamole but this spice surely boost up that exotic flare, a little goes a long way. 

Halve the avocados and remove the pits. Scoop out the avocado and add into the salsa mixture. Use a fork to blend the avocado with salsa. If a slightly chunky texture is preferred, try not to over-mix it, otherwise the guacamole will get a more thick paste-like consistency instead. Taste and see if more salt is needed.

You can serve the guacamole with the most classic option - tortilla chips. However, I used toast and Ritz crackers instead. The guacamole is surprisingly good with these slightly salty crackers. On the other hand, when serving with toast, it becomes my hearty breakfast or afternoon snack.

Don't forget to garnish with cilantro leaves!

Maybe one day I'll be able to include a few wine pairing suggestions along with my recipes, think it'll be a good idea for this blog?