When it comes to catering to the masses, there are some old favourites that never die, and never should. I'm talking cheese balls, cob loaf dips and my personal favourite: Tex Mex dip. My mum Alexa credits her good friend Sandy with this one and it's always a crowd-pleaser. I can recall birthday parties, Christmas parties, cocktail parties, staff parties and every other type of party imaginable over the past twenty years featuring this dip. My memory is generally terrible but it's great when it comes to food! I'm always one of the punters positioned within a favourable distance of this dip!
There are several versions of this dip going around, but this one that Mum makes is my favourite. I've made two versions in the past week and I can categorically state that this is one recipe where I'd recommend sticking with the guidelines. I've improvised here and there and it is just never the same! Stick to the original!
So here, by request, is Alexa & Sandy's Tex Mex Dip, sent to me by email this afternoon from Mum:
TEX MEX DIP
1 Tin of Refried Bean mix
2 ripe Avocadoes and lemon juice. Amanda: I'd say get 3-4 just in case you need more volume and avocados are so hit and miss lately!
1 cup of Sour Cream to 1 ½ Cups Sour Cream
2 tablespoons of Mayo
Juice of one lemon or lime.
2 large tomatoes
5 green spring onions
½ bottle of Home brand stuffed Olives
Corn Chips to Serve
In a 23cm round dish, or 5 small ones, spread the refried bean mix
Then mash up the avocados with lemon juice and salt and pepper until smooth.
Spread this on top of the bean mix
In a separate bowl mix up the sour cream, mayo and lemon or lime juice. Taste to see if there is a good balance, before spreading on top of the avocado mixture.
Then boil the kettle, pour boiling water in a bowl, put in the tomatoes for a minute, then
take out and peel. The easiest way is to cut a cross in the tomato skin after being in the water.
Once peeled, then cut in quarters, take out the seeds, and then finely chop the remains before placing on top of the sour cream/mayo mixture. Then finely chop the olives and green spring onions and spread those on top also. Amanda's note: be generous with the toppings as the piquant, salty and fresh flavours of the onions, olives and tomatoes are so necessary with every bit of the layered, creamy dip below!
Leave to set in the fridge for about 8 hours or overnight to gain flavour.
Serve with corn chips to dip! A butter knife may also be necessary.
This one I made last Saturday lacked sufficient topping for my taste! More olives! More onions!
Terrible photo but this was a second one I made on Boxing Day - we were mysteriously completely out of every variety of onion so I tried to make up for it with fresh chilli and even garlic chives after this photo was taken - but it just wasn't the same. This one had a brilliant avocado layer though as I had three luscious big avos and lots of lemon juice. Bloody amazing.
This old school dip is sure to be a hit at your next party - sometimes you can't beat retro!
Have you ever made tex mex dip? A different version maybe? Tell me all about it!