Venezuelan cuisine’s answer to guacamole has a brighter, tangier flavor.
Why It Works
- Using green bell pepper as well as jalapeño gives the salsa a tempered, vegetal heat.
- Drizzling olive oil as needed into the sauce while the food processor is running keeps the salsa emulsified and allows you to choose its final consistency.
If you’re settling in for a long afternoon of game watching, I’ll wager guacamole is one of the most popular snacks. It makes sense, with its crowd-pleasing creamy texture, fresh flavor, and a heartiness to sustain a person through a long stint of sitting on the couch. There’s more than one way to do guacamole, though, and Venezuelans tout their own version in guasacaca.
Guasacaca comes in many forms, spanning from slight variations on traditional chunky guacamole to a smooth, thin, herbal sauce. The type I’m most familiar with is somewhere in between, a cilantro and avocado sauce that’s thick enough to scoop with a chip, yet thin enough to be squeezed out of a bottle. No matter the form, guasacaca is usually tangier than guacamole thanks to a heavy hit of vinegar.
I got what I was looking for in guasacaca by puréeing avocados, onion, bell pepper, cilantro, parsley, vinegar, jalapeño, garlic, and lime juice in a food processor until smooth. Then I slowly drizzled olive oil in the feed tube while the motor was running until I hit the perfect consistency.
The result was an incredible sauce that had a rich creaminess with a smooth avocado flavor that was punched up by the tang of vinegar and lime. Cilantro and parsley gave it its herbal character, while green pepper added a cooling contrast to spicy jalapeño. The sauce was totally multi-purpose, too, working great as a condiment for arepas or grilled meats, as well as a dip for chips or tequeños (Venezuelan fried cheese sticks). However you may use it in the end, I can assure you this guasacaca would be a welcome addition to any game-day or party line-up.
