Sweet and Spicy Guacamole

I used to not like avocados. Then, after going to Mexico, I realized that my problem was that I hadn't had good avocados. Since then, they've become one of my most used fruits. As for this particular recipe, I'd read somewhere that the flavors of bananas and avocados go together quite well, and once I'd verified that that was indeed the case, combining avocados with plantains seemed like a natural progression. If the sweetness is too much for your tastes, you can try making it with yellow plantains instead of fully ripe ones. They'll be soft enough by that point to still work well.

The quantity in this recipe works nicely as a dip or appetizer for a handful of people, but it can be scaled up as needed to act as a stand-alone side dish, too. The final result should have a consistency similar to mashed potatoes if you make it as runny as possible. If you want something chunkier, don't mix it quite so much.

For extra spiciness, you can include the seeds of the chili peppers in the mixture, use spicier peppers like Thai chili peppers or habanero, or do both!

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Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados

• 1 ripe plantain, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

• 1 or 2 fresh green chili peppers, depending on your tolerance for spiciness, sliced into rings

• 2 Tbsp coconut oil

• 1 onion, diced

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• juice of 1 lime

• 1 tsp paprika

• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Put the coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

2. Once the oil is hot, add the plantain slices.

3. Cook until lightly browned, usually about 4-6 minutes. Flip to cook the opposite faces similarly, usually about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

4. Transfer the plantain slices to a mixing bowl. Do not discard the remaining oil.

5. Place the chili pepper slices in the frying pan and cook over medium heat until softened, usually about 2-3 minutes.

6. Transfer the pepper slices and remaining oil to the mixing bowl.

7. Add avocados, onion, garlic, lime juice, paprika, and salt.

8. Mix, either with an immersion blender or by hand with a sturdy fork, until the desired consistency is achieved.

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