OK, I absolutely love “Mexican” food, although, I should say Mexican inspired food – it’s probably not traditional Mexican food at all!  But I just love the flavours that this cuisine embraces; lime, chilli, cumin, coriander, AVOCADOS, tomatoes. Amazing, bright, taste-bud tingling flavours.

I love to cook crispy fish tacos (recipe to follow in my blog!), chicken tacos and wraps, Quesadillas, piles of topped Nachos (perfect for parties!), marinated and grilled meats and fish, so it’s always good to have a range of toppings and dips to accompany all these sorts of foods.

My absolute fave is guacamole. I know avocados are everywhere (and yes I LOVE avocados), but there is just something so satisfying about creamy, soft, cold avocado with hot and spicy food. I also have a fab recipe for salsa and a low fat, creamy, hot sauce dip.

Guacamole

2 avocados – perfectly ripe, the softer the better

1 ripe tomato, chopped

1 red chilli, de-seeded

1 very juicy lime, juice only

Salt and pepper

• Slice all the way round the avocado, top to bottom and round back to the top. Pull apart, get a knife and gently tap the stone with the knife to pull out. Criss-cross through the flesh of the avocado, being careful to not cut all the way through and cut your hand! Scoop out the cubes from the skin with a spoon into a bowl.
• Mash the avocado with a fork, until it’s creamy but with chunks.
• Stir in the chopped tomato, chilli, salt, pepper and lime juice
• Serve and top with more chilli if desired.

Salsa

Again, this recipe for salsa might not be traditional, but I like adding a pepper to add texture, colour and more veg into the dish.

5 ripe tomatoes or a punnet of cherry tomatoes

1 pepper, I used yellow but use any sweet pepper you have

1 red onion

Bunch of coriander

1 red chilli

1 clove of garlic

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

• Chop the tomatoes, pepper, onion, coriander, chilli and mince the garlic.
• Mix everything together in a bowl and add the lime juice, oil and salt and pepper. Mix well again.
• Cover and let sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavours mix or serve straight away.

Creamy Hot Sauce Dip

OK, this is definitely not Mexican, but my god it goes so well on top of wraps, tacos, crispy fish, grilled chicken and even as a dip for crudites and nachos. It’s also creamy, but absolutely not bad for you!

1 tbsp Sriracha (a store cupboard staple!)

3 tbsp low fat yogurt

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Salt and pepper

• Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Done! Pour/dip/spoon on anything where you want a spicy, creamy kick!