Not guacamole

Many years ago, the Sydney Morning Herald’s resident food writer Matthew Evans wrote a very delicious recipe for guacamole.  Evans’ recipe called for the usual suspects: chilli, cumin, raw garlic, avocado, Spanish onion, sour cream, diced tomato, coriander and lime juice.  I continue to make this occasionally, but I have found that as the years go on, my ability to digest raw garlic has diminished. So here is my not-guacamole, pared down to something really basic. I was inspired to simplicity by an old friend, Judy Nachum. She served something like this when we had lunch a few years ago. I don’t want to call it an avocado dip – it’s just something nice to put on bread, or shmear on carrots and cucumber. Ingredients:

• 2 avocados

• 2-3 tablespoons cumin seeds

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 6 grinds of the pepper grinder

• 1 lemon, juiced

• 4 spring onions

As you can see … very pared down!  First, juice the lemons – you will need the juice straight away for the next step.  Mash the avocados, and stir the juice in right away to prevent discoloration.

Toast the cumin seeds in a pan until they colour. Then grind them straight away in a mortar and pestle.  The smoke from the grinding will lend your house a delicious aroma.  There is NO comparison to freshly ground cumin and that pathetic pre-ground cumin powder dust that you can buy in supermarkets.

Mix the ground cumin into the avocado mash. Add the salt and pepper.  Adjust accordingly – you want something salty, spicy from the cumin and sour from lemon.  Then add the chopped up spring onions. Stir together well and serve.

Simple.