Avocado in strips with cherry tomatoes, red onion, corn and cilantro, dressed with lime, olive oil and a spoonful of mayonnaise. Nothing is cooked.
Lime is what keeps it green
The original recipe credited the mayonnaise with stopping the avocado from browning, which is not how it works.
Cut avocado browns because an enzyme in the flesh reacts with oxygen. Acid slows that reaction down, which is why lemon or lime juice is the standard defence, and it works best applied the moment you cut rather than at the end of assembly.
The mayonnaise is there for richness. It coats the surface a little, which helps marginally, but four tablespoons of lemon juice is doing the actual work.
Ripe but firm
An avocado soft enough to spread is too soft for this salad: it turns to paste the moment you turn the bowl over. You want one that gives slightly under a thumb near the stem and no more.
Slice it into strips rather than cubes, and fold the salad gently rather than stirring it.
How Colombia eats avocado
This is a salad rather than a dip, and that is the general rule in Colombia. Avocado arrives in thick slices with salt, next to sancocho or on a bandeja paisa, and it is treated as a vegetable on the plate rather than as something to mash.
Guacamole is Mexican. Colombian avocado sauce exists but is thinner, closer to a dressing.
Eat it now
Tomatoes release water and onion sharpens as it sits. An hour in the fridge and the dressing is diluted and the salad has lost its edges. Make it last, serve it first.
More salads
- Stuffed avocados — with tuna, as a starter.
- Mango salad — the other fruit salad that is savoury.
- Carrot salad — grated and quick.
- Chicken and vegetable salad — the full plate.
Avocado Salad FAQ
Not really. Browning is an enzyme reacting with oxygen, and acid is what slows it down, so the lemon juice in this recipe is doing the work. Mayonnaise coats the surface slightly, which helps a little, but it is there for richness.
The moment you cut the avocado, not at the end. Once the surface has started to darken the juice will not reverse it, so squeeze some over the strips as soon as they are sliced and add the rest with the dressing.
Ripe but firm: they should give slightly under a thumb near the stem and no more. Very soft avocados turn to paste when you fold the salad, which is why the recipe asks for strips rather than cubes.
Either. Tinned drained corn is what most Colombian households use for this and needs no cooking. Frozen works too, thawed. Fresh corn cut off the cob is better if it is in season.
Not usefully. The tomatoes release water, the onion sharpens and the avocado softens. Assemble it just before serving.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large ripe avocados (ripe but firm: soft ones fall apart when sliced)
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice (this is what stops the avocado browning)
- 3 teaspoons olive oil
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon cilantro, chopped (a small handful)
- 1 red onion (sliced into thin rounds)
- 150 g corn (tinned or frozen, drained)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Notas
Instructions
- Cut the cherry tomatoes in half or into quarters and set them aside.
- Halve the avocados, remove the stone and the skin, and cut them into thin strips. Squeeze some of the lemon juice over them straight away, before they have time to brown.
- Peel the red onion and slice it into thin rounds.
- Put the tomatoes, the avocado and the onion in a bowl, add the corn, the cilantro, and season with salt and pepper.
- Add the mayonnaise, the olive oil and the rest of the lemon juice, and turn everything over gently.
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