Christmas dip trio

Entertain your Christmas guests with a themed trio of dips in red, green and white.

Christmas is the busiest time of year for entertaining and feeding many mouths. Keep in the theme of the festive season with three fresh dips that make up the classic red, white and green colours of Christmas.

Make the three dips fresh on the day or the night before and serve on a platter with an assortment of crackers, breads, or julienned vegetables like carrots, celery, capsicum or broccoli.

Red salsa

You can’t go past a fresh tomato salsa when having guests over for an Aussie Christmas barbecue.

Ingredients:

• 4 perfectly ripe tomatoes (or, for varying sweetness, add some cherry or grape tomatoes)
• 2–3 sprigs of spring onion
• 1 clove of garlic (or more according to taste)
• 1 handful of coriander
• Juice of half a lime
• Salt and pepper (seasoned to taste)

Directions:

1. Finely chop all of the ingredients and mix in a bowl with the lime and salt and pepper. Mix and taste the salsa, adding more lime juice, coriander or salt and pepper until you have the desired taste.
2. If you like things spicy, try adding a diced chilli or a dash of Tobasco sauce.

Green guacamole

A classic guacamole dip is a crowd pleaser. So, be sure to whip this up for hungry mouths.

Ingredients:

• 4 large ripe avocados
• 1/2 a red onion, finely diced
• 2–3 tablespoons of lime juice (or the juice of 2 fresh limes)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 handful of coriander, roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Scoop out the avocado flesh and mash with a fork. Add all of the other ingredients and gently mix to ensure that the avocado is thoroughly mixed in with the lime juice, which will prevent it from going brown. Leave to rest in the fridge for one hour to allow the flavours to develop.

White tzatziki

A classic and refreshing tzatziki is great for a summer barbecue.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of plain Greek yoghurt
• 2 medium-sized cucumbers (deseeded and grated to the size of about two handfuls)
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1–2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. After deseeding and grating the cucumber, place in a clean tea towel or paper towel and gently squeeze out most of the liquid. Place in a bowl.
2. Add in all of the other ingredients, adding just one tablespoon of lemon juice to start. Mix and taste. If needed, add the extra tablespoon of lemon juice or more seasoning.
3. For an extra touch, you might also like to add finely sliced mint leaves.

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