As with the previous dip du jour, hummus, homemade guacamole is quick, easy and far, far tastier than any shop-bought version.

In the UK, the greatest difficulty is finding ripe avocados. If I want three, I usually buy four a few days in advance and store them in a brown paper bag containing a couple of ripe bananas. With a bit of luck, the bananas will ripen most of the avocados by the time I am ready to use them.

Before the letters of complaint start to arrive, I make no claims as to the authenticity of this recipe but I do know that it’s a great dip to serve with tortilla chips, crudités or toasted pitta bread. It is also a great accompaniment for grilled meats, chicken and fish, or you can spread it on toast and top it with a poached or fried egg to liven up your breakfast.

Rather than serving guacamole as a dip or a garnish for grilled meats, our son Harry often serves this gâteau as a starter. It is pretty, very tasty and, when accompanied by a small leaf salad and served with tortilla chips or warm pitta bread, gets rave reviews.

Harry’s Guacamole Gâteau

  • For the guacamole
  • 3 ripe avocados
  • 1 medium sized tomato, deseeded and diced (about 5 mm). Leave this out if you’re making the gâteau.
  • ½ small red Thai bird’s eye chilli (or any other chilli depending upon your heat tolerance), finely chopped 5 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 pickled gherkin, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander
  • ¼ red pepper, finely diced
  • 1 large clove of garlic, grated or crushed
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of mayonnaise
  • ½ teaspoon of Tabasco (I prefer the chipotle version)
  • Juice of 1 lime, or 2 if not very juicy
  • 1 large pinch of ground cumin
  • 1 large pinch of paprika
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • For the guacamole gâteau (makes 6 individual gâteaux or 1 large gâteau)
  • 1 recipe of guacamole as above, omitting the tomato
  • 6 tomatoes, deseeded and diced into 5mm pieces
  • 300 g cooked sweetcorn (fresh, frozen or canned)
  • Cajun seasoning

To make the guacamole

  • Halve the avocados, remove the stones, and scoop out the flesh from the skins.
  • Mash the flesh with the lime juice until almost smooth.
  • Add all of the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
  • Check the seasoning then refrigerate for 2 – 3 hours to allow the flavours to meld.

To make the guacamole gâteau

  • Place a 9 × 3.5cm mousse ring (or a small baked bean can with the top and bottom taken off) onto to the plate. To make a large one, use a 20cm pie tin with its base removed.
  • Spoon in a layer of corn, filling it by a quarter. Gently squish the corn to hold it in place.
  • Cover the corn with a similar layer of the diced tomato and add a shake of Cajun seasoning.
  • Gently press the tomato to hold it in place. The ring should now be half full.
  • Fill the ring to the top with guacamole and level with a spatula or a palette knife.
  • Carefully lift off the ring and, if you’re making individual gâteaux, repeat on each of the plates.
  • Serve with tortilla chips or toasted pitta bread and garnish with a small, dressed leaf salad.

The Just Not Kosher recipe collection is available to buy as a limited-edition card set from our shop. If you’d rather save cash and trees, feel free to browse our recipes here. If you like what you see and think we should make more, please make a contribution – we’d love to expand the collection and release new recipe sets.