We celebrate everything that involves food with food (but, of course) – be it our own traditional Indian holidays/festivals or adopted ones! And it is with food and drinks that we celebrate Cinco De Mayo the last few years. We are huge fans of Mexican flavors that closely mimic our Indian spices in some ways – the spices are bursting with flavor, rich, earthy and tantalizes our taste buds. Spicy Guacamole with chips has become a family favorite now. It took a while for the 7.5 year old to warm up to guacamole but now he loves it! Next stop, re-introducing him to Avocado Toast.

I cannot drink cocktails anymore.. alcohol got added to the list of things that I am allergic to now – bummer, I know! Or like the past few years, I would have made a Margarita (mango-habanero sounded promising) to celebrate Cinco De Mayo along with food picked up from local Mexican restaurant. The husband is not a fan of cocktails, so this year I concentrated on making the food.

On the menu was – Chicken Tacos and Guacamole with Chips. And since it was on a Friday this year which is a family movie night – the guac and chips became the perfect substitute for popcorn.

The trick is to pick out the perfectly ripened avocado to make a killer guacamole. It took me a few trials and errors and there would be times that I bought every shade of avocado available in the store – and then it would be a race against time. The avocados would find its place on our toasts (for breakfast), in our guacamole or in the smoothie depending on whether I picked up the avocados at the perfect stage of ripened-ness (yes, I know that isn’t a word but you avocado lovers get it, don’t you!). I like to use Haas Avocados for making guacamole and use both lemon juice and lime juice.

2 to 3 ripe Haas avocado, pitted and flesh scooped out

Juice of half a lime

Couple of squeezes of lemon juice

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp of paprika

1/2 tsp of smoked paprika

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 tbsp. of chopped red onion

2 tbsp. of diced tomatoes that have been seeds

2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeño, de-seeded and diced

Little cayenne pepper for some extra heat (optional)

Salt to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper (to taste/optional)

Drizzle the lemon and lime juice on the scooped out avocado. Mash the avocados to your desired level of chunkiness (use a potato masher, works great). Sprinkle the spices and fold in the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Squeeze a little more lemon juice if required. Serve with chips.