![bordered](/img/2021/guacamole.png)
About a month ago Robyn and I flew to South Padre Island Texas to visit with my son and friends. We had never flown into Harlingen TX before so this time we flew into Harlingen and rented a car to drive to South Padre. While at a local Harlingen AT&T store we asked where was a good place to eat. They referred us to Pepe’s Mexican restaurant. Robyn and I stopped there for lunch and had some of the best guacamole I had ever had.
I knew that when we got back to Florida I would have to try and recreate the receipe.
After a couple of tries Robyn and I think the receipe is pretty close.
The guacamole only takes about 5 minutes to make you end up with about 5 cups (quite a bit).
There are a couple of key concepts to get right to have the perfect guacamole.
- use fresh ingredients
- use a molcajete (large mortar and pestle)
- mix loosely to get a nice chunky-ness
Let’s start with the ingredients:
- 2 japalenos
- 2 avacados
- 1/2 onion
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 bunch of cilantro
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
![bordered](/img/2021/guac-ingredients.png)
What is a molcajete?
From wikipedia - “The molcajete was used by pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures, including the Aztec and Maya, stretching back several thousand years. Traditionally carved out of a single block of vesicular basalt, molcajetes are typically round in shape and supported by three short legs.”
I got ours on Amazon. They mostly come in sizes of 2 cups, or 4 cups. I managed to find a 5 cup version, but it is really heavy.
![bordered](/img/2021/molcajete.png)
The secret to getting the consistency correct is in how the ingredients are mixed.
First dice the hard ingredients: japalenos, onion, cilantro, garlic. And then place the diced ingredients into the molcajete along with the salt and pepper.
Now mash the petsle until you get the consistency of the mixure you like. I usually grind for less than one minute.
Diced and ready to grind
![bordered](/img/2021/diced-ready-to-grind.png)
Ground to consistency we like
![bordered](/img/2021/diced-and-ground.png)
Dice the roma tomatoes and place them in a medium sized bowl. Add the ground mix you must made also:
![bordered](/img/2021/diced-romas-and-mixture.png)
Last we need to mash up the guacamole. We use one Haas and one normal? avacado. Cut the avacado in half and scoop the avacado out with a spoon into the molcajete. Mash up the avacado until you get the consistency you like. We like it a little chunky.
Avacado just spooned into the molcajete
![bordered](/img/2021/avacado-spooned.png)
Avacado mashed
![bordered](/img/2021/avacado-mashed.png)
Add the avacado to the mixing bowl that already has the diced roma tomatoes and the ground mix of japalenos, onions, etc..
![bordered](/img/2021/bowl-before-mixing.png)
Stir everything up in the mixing bowl with a large soup spoon. Put it back in the molcajete to have a great serving presentation.
![bordered](/img/2021/guac-done.png)