Husband and I had a minor dispute last week. I made tacos, which means an Old Del Paso mix for the meat and for the guacamole. The mixes make it easy and quick for me, and to be honest, I love the flavour it gives the guacamole in particular and fantasize about it’s taste in my spare time. This probably makes me pathetic or an addict to MSG, which brings me to our disagreement. He said that there was MSG in it, and I said no way, that’s only in Chinese food.
Marriage advice for women everywhere: Listen to your husband.
I brought him the packet of guacamole mix, and he read the ingredients in German first (everything here is in French, German and Italian). Mononatriumglutamaat. That could be anything, I retorted. Then he went on to French. Glutamate monosodique. Or mono sodium glutamate in English. I don’t need a translator for that one.
No one needs to do research to find out that MSG is not good for our bodies, so I decided to find a way to do tacos – my Mexican preference because it’s so easy – sans mixes – after I finish the leftover guacamole seasoning, of course. Waste not, want not.
Last night I made my first tacos without taco seasoning for the meat. It didn’t taste the same, but both of us liked it, so that’s a good start.
- Taco meat sautee a whole chopped onion in olive oil, add mince and brown. Once it’s quite well-cooked add cumin powder, garam masala and chili powder (I used a Sri Lankan curry/chili powder) and a bit of Worcester sauce. The last one is the one I’m iffy about – it didn’t alter the taste too much because I didn’t put a lot. Add salt to taste.
- Guacamole (granted this was with the mix) two avocados roughly mashed, half a small onion chopped, two garlic cloves crushed, generous quantity of coriander chopped, a few squeezes of lime, lots of salt. Mix together. If you want it spicy, chop a red chili into it.
- Tomatoes making my own salsa is one of my culinary goals for the next little while, but I do like the basic chopped tomato pico de gallo thing. Chop two tomatoes, half an onion chopped, two garlic cloves crushed, chopped coriander, lime juice and salt.
Next week – homemade guacamole. Maybe.
I love homemade guacamole! Some people recommend a splash of tequila, some people use the mix … I make mine homemade (and free of MSG!) and essentially the same as yours, only with red onion, no garlic, specifically flaky salt, and part or all of a small serrano chili or jalapeno for a bit of a kick. Or if I’m really being lazy, chili powder.
If we don’t feel like doing extra chopping, we’ll add a bit of garlic powder to the guacamole. Another thing you can do is add some of the pico to the guac. And definitely use a serrano pepper in the pico. Yum.
[...] I rarely do the same thing twice. But it was so tasty for last night’s tacos. (Here’s an old recipe I’ve used.) I think I browned the mince with cumin and Sri Lankan curry powder (Larich [...]