Creamy Guacamole

I simply love avocados. When we lived in Fiji, they grew in our garden so we regularly used them in a wide variety of delicious recipes, or ate them by themselves as a tasty snack. Luckily, they’re also supremely healthy, containing more potassium than bananas and bursting with heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids and fibre.

Sometimes I simply slice them in half, take out the stone, fill the dip with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a little sea salt, then eat the flesh with a teaspoon. It’s so simple but so mouth-wateringly good.

Guacamole is a firm family favourite so it's always quickly gobbled up in our house! I often serve it as a snack, with nachos, or as part of a Mexican feast.

Usually I use a more traditional recipe and mix diced tomatoes, onions, coriander and lemon juice into mashed avocado, but my latest version is much smoother and includes cashew nuts, which bring an enhanced creaminess to the dish.

It’s so easy to make, simply put the following ingredients in your food processor and pulverise until smooth:

3 avocadoes, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks

½ cup of cashew nuts

1 tsp of sea salt (I try to use Himalayan pink salt when I can)

The juice of half a lemon

When you shop for avocados, bear in mind when you’ll want to use them. If you buy them when they’re not yet ripe, make sure you don’t refrigerate them because they won’t ripen in cold temperatures. If you buy ripe ones, or when your previously unripened ones ripen, keep them in the fridge to preserve them because otherwise they'll deteriorate quite quickly.