SOUTH BRONX — Cinco de Mayo is a week from today, and for those looking to cook up a celebration of Mexican heritage, DNAinfo New York can help.
We've collected recipes from some of the best Mexican restaurants across the five boroughs, presenting a dish each day that you can prepare for Cinco de Mayo weekend — from kimchi shrimp tacos to delectable flan to zippy sangria.
First, if you plan on serving up guacamole, the time to start preparing it is now. Avocados can be notoriously difficult to purchase at peak ripeness. In order to have perfectly ripened avocados by the weekend, purchase them today using our avocado buying guide.
La Morada, a Mexican restaurant at 308 Willis Ave. in the South Bronx, uses a very traditional guacamole recipe.
Chef Natalie Mendez mixes together one avocado, a tablespoon each of diced cilantro, diced onions and diced tomatoes, half a lemon and/or half a lime and a pinch of salt.
This should be enough to serve two people, so adjust accordingly based on party size.
Mendez's daughter Yajaira Saavedra stressed that the amount of each ingredient is not set in stone.
“If you like to taste the onions more, you can add more onions,” she said. “Or more tomatoes. Adjust it to your taste buds.”
For a drink companion, Saavedra recommends hibiscus, a Mexican drink made of boiled hibiscus flowers with water and sugar.
Saavedra spoke proudly of how healthy the guacamole recipe was, stressing that it was vegan-friendly and comprised almost entirely of vegetables. She hoped the family-owned and operated La Morada would help bring healthy food to its neighborhood.
“We opened in the South Bronx because we believe everybody deserves a good place to eat,” she said.
INGREDIENTS:
1 full avocado
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon of diced onions
1 tablespoon of diced tomatoes
1/2 lemon and/or lime
A pinch of salt
1 spoonful of pomegranate seeds (optional)
1 spoonful of diced jalapeno (optional)
1 spoonful of diced pineapple (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Grind or smash the ingredients together.
2. Add a garnish such as pomegranate, jalapeno or pineapple to add an extra kick.
We posted this recipe as the first in our five-day series of Cinco de Mayo recipes from each borough. In order to have perfectly ripened avocados by the weekend, purchase them today using our avocado buying guide.
