Guacamole Recipe Tried By A JamesTown Woman.
Its avocado season in Ghana and what better time to try out avocado recipes whilst the sun is shining? Popularly called 'Paya', a turn on the word Pear, the soft and mushy fruit is a great accompaniment in many Ghanaian dishes. I love Pear with Ga Kenkey, Banku and on the side of Attieke (this idea i recently discovered at a popular spot behind the Osu mall). It goes down perfectly with bread, a bit of magarine with a giant cup of Lipton tea. Yes, my Grandma trained me well!
Coincidentally, today happens to be Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican celebration to mark the day the Mexicans won a battle against the French. And who makes Guacamole more than the Mexicans? Definitely a day to celebrate with all the Spanish folks in the world!
Why is it that when you are looking for street sellers walking by with Pear and fruits balanced on their heads, they never seem to appear? I drove to the market and found the fruit lounging in an aged basket of a vegetable seller. I held the fruit the proper way to check if it was ripe and found it satisfactory. I hate slicing an avocado open only to find it watery and not mushy the way its supposed to taste. The texture is what we refer to as ‘Paya nku.’ Nku means creamy. Creamy pear.
I made the Guacamole whilst wondering if it was going to rain as the clouds gathered ferociously beyond my kitchen window.
Guacamole is mashed avocado with a few simple spicy ingredients to add some kick to the mush.
Ingredients
1 ½ Avocado pears
2 small tomatoes
½ Onion
1 tbsp Lime Juice
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1. Wash and peel avocado and take out pip.
2. Dice the half piece of the avocado fruit and set aside.
3. Cut the full one into chunks and mash in a small mortar if you have one. If not use a fork to mask the pieces in a bowl into a semi-smooth paste. Decide on how chunky you want the paste to be. I didn’t have a mortar and the fork was too slow so I used an ‘Atoh’ to mash the fruit. Atoh is the kitchen tool used to mash vegetables in an adinkra.
4. Chop other vegetables (tomatoes and onions) into cubed pieces
5. Add the lime juice to the paste for the guacamole to stay fresh and balance the flavor.
6. Add the onions and tomatoes and stir in.
7. Gently stir in the diced avocado
Ready to serve!
I added fresh local sweet potato chips which I had bought from Judi Foods and dipped this into the mix. Oh man! Man oh man! You got to try this at home! Guacamole can be made in various ways and is a great dip for any cocktail party or be used to serve your in-laws who show up at home. Why not add some plantain chips instead of the usual Taco’s? Chipotle recently released its secret Guacamole recipe and I could swear it’s just like mine. I need Jalapeños in my life right about now!.
Hope you will practice how to make this at home. If you do, please send me photos at me@naaoyooquartey.com or share the link in the comments below.
P.S - I am the James Town woman :)
