Guacamole made the old way, ground in a stone molcajete so the garlic, chile and onion turn into a rough paste before the avocado ever goes in. SoCal Original Avocado gets folded through at the end. It is tomatillo, green jalapeno and avocado already, so it deepens the guacamole instead of repeating it. Fifteen minutes, no stove, and it goes straight to the table in the bowl you made it in.

Ingredients

The paste

• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 serrano chile, stemmed
• ½ small white onion, finely diced, divided
• ⅓ cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped, divided

The guacamole

• 4 ripe Hass avocados
• 3 tablespoons SoCal Original Avocado
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

On top

• 1 small Roma tomato, seeded and diced
• 2 tablespoons crumbled cotija
• Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

1. Put the salt, garlic and serrano in the molcajete. Grind to a rough paste, 1 to 2 minutes. No molcajete? Mince everything fine and mash it with the flat of a knife.
2. Add half the onion and half the cilantro. Grind again until it becomes a coarse green paste and smells sharp.
3. Halve and pit the avocados. Scoop the flesh straight into the molcajete.
4. Fold, do not grind. Cut the avocado into the paste with short strokes until it is chunky. The lumps are the point.
5. Add the Original Avocado and the lime juice. Fold twice, no more.
6. Taste and add salt.
7. Scatter the remaining onion, remaining cilantro, the tomato and the cotija over the top. Serve in the molcajete with chips.

Tips

Grinding the aromatics first is the whole difference. Stirring raw garlic and chile into mashed avocado gives you hot spots. Breaking them down into a paste puts that flavor through every bite.

Ripe means it gives to gentle pressure at the stem end. A rock-hard avocado will not fold, and an overripe one goes to soup.

Leave the seeds in the serrano if you want real heat. Take them out and it stays mild enough for the whole table.

Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface if it has to wait. Air is what browns it, not the pit.