It costs more and takes longer, but sometimes you need fancy guac
This recipe takes guacamole to the next level by adding delicious pomegranate seeds. It’s slightly on the pricy side as far as dips go, but is perfect for special occasions.
Pomegranates have become really popular in recent years thanks to the drink POM. Personally, I find store-bought pomegranate juice to be way too sweet while not really tasting like the actual fruit. If you’ve only had the juice and disliked it, then give the fruit a try—you may discover a new favourite.
Ingredients
- Five to six small ripe avocados, pitted and peeled
- The seeds of one pomegranate
- 1/2 to one lime OR 1/2 a lemon, juiced (the easiest way to juice a lime or lemon is cutting it in half, sticking a fork in it, and twisting)
- One small clove of garlic
- Kashmiri red chili powder, to taste (this chili powder doesn’t contain all the other ingredients that come in a Mexican-inspired chili powder; if you can’t find this use cayenne)
- Ground cumin, to taste
- Salt, to taste
Directions
How to pick and peel a pomegranate
For those who have never eaten pomegranate seeds, it can be a little intimidating to go buy a whole pomegranate because you might not know how it’s supposed to be eaten or how to pick out a good one.
While you wouldn’t want to eat the skin, pomegranate seeds are edible, so you don’t need to spit out all the seeds as you eat them. Similar to the white seeds in watermelons, you just eat them.
To buy the kind of pomegranate you need for this recipe, look for the pomegranate that is the deepest shade of red while still being hard to the touch. Most of the time that should lead you to a good one.
I know what you’re thinking, now what do you do with this thing? First, brace yourself. Even if you know what you’re doing it’s pretty hard to get the seeds out without crushing or cutting through them and staining things with scarlet juice. It’s going to get a little messy, but you can do this.
The key is to take a knife, place it skin-deep into the pomegranate, and then run it from the top to the bottom and then back to the top again so that you have pierced the flesh all the way around. Now put the knife into one section and twist it slightly to separate the two halves a little. Once there is enough room for your fingers, you can rip the two halves apart carefully. If it’s not coming apart easily, you may need to run the knife around the outside again to form four quarters rather than two halves.
Once you have four quarters, place them in a big bowl of water and separate the seeds from the skin slowly. The seeds should sink to the bottom of the water while the bits you need to discard should float to the top. Once you’ve separated all of them place them to the side.
How to pick and peel avocados
Avocados need to be properly ripe for this recipe. The bagged ones at the grocery store usually need two to four days to ripen; to do so keep them unrefrigerated. To quicken this process, you can keep the avocados in a paper bag with a banana.
When the avocados turn a darker green and give slightly when you squeeze them, they are ready. At that point, you can keep them in the fridge to prevent them from getting overripe.
To peel the avocado, cut lengthwise around the pit and then pull apart. You can then peel the skin away by hand or scoop the avocado out with a spoon. Keep the pits on the side for later; they help to keep the guacamole green longer.
Guacamole directions
- Mince the garlic and mash a little with the back of a fork.
- Roughly chop the peeled avocados on a cutting board.
- Sprinkle with spices, lemon or lime juice, and salt.
- Mash avocados with the back of fork.
- Mix half the pomegranate seeds into the avocados.
- Transfer into a bowl with the avocado pits at the bottom.
- Top with the rest of the pomegranate seeds.
- Serve or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Enjoy with nacho chips!
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion.