Seven layer dip
The Tex-Mex party dish built in a glass dish so the stripes show. It is assembly rather than cooking, and the only skill in it is keeping the wet layers away from the dry ones so it does not turn into a soup by hour two.
The standard Tex-Mex party build, ordered so the wet layers are contained
Ingredients
Written for a 20 × 20 cm dish
The layers, bottom to top
- 400 g refried beans, loosened with a spoon of water so they spread without tearing rounded
- 300 g guacamole, made sharp, because it sits under sour cream rounded
- 250 g sour cream, seasoned with lime and a little Tex-Mex seasoning rounded
- 200 g salsa or chopped tomatoes, drained in a sieve for 10 minutes first, which is the critical step rounded
- 150 g mature cheddar, coarsely grated rounded
- 80 g black olives, sliced and patted dry rounded
- 40 g spring onions, green parts, thinly sliced rounded
- 10 g pickled jalapeños, optional, and drained hard (optional) rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Drain the salsa in a sieve for 10 minutes. This is the one step that decides whether the dish survives the evening. Keep the liquid for something else.
- Spread the beans in an even layer, right to the edges of the glass so the stripe reads cleanly.
- Guacamole next, then sour cream, each spread gently with the back of a spoon. Do not push down or you will drag the layer below into it.
- Then the drained salsa, then the cheese, and finally olives, spring onion and jalapeños.
- Chill 30 minutes before serving, and eat within about three hours.
Why this order
The layers are not arbitrary. Beans go at the bottom because they are the densest and hold everything up. Guacamole sits below sour cream because the sour cream seals it from the air and keeps it green. The salsa goes above both because it is the wettest thing in the dish, and the cheese above that catches what it does release. Reverse any two and it slumps.
Notes
- Build it in glass. It is a dish that exists to be looked at from the side, and in a ceramic bowl it is just a bowl of dip.
- Do not make it more than about four hours ahead. The salsa keeps releasing water however well drained.
- Sharp guacamole. With sour cream, beans and cheese above and below it, a mild guacamole disappears completely. Extra lime and salt.
- The classic seventh layer is negotiable. Some builds use shredded lettuce, some sliced spring onion, some both. Lettuce goes limp within the hour, so onion is the better choice.
Ingredient substitutions
- Refried beans are hard to find in Germany. Mash a tin of drained pinto or kidney beans with a little oil, cumin and salt, warm briefly and cool; it is closer than it sounds.
- Mature cheddar stands in for the American yellow cheese blend. Young Gouda melts and tastes flatter; cheddar has the sharpness this needs.
- Mexican crema is thinner and less sour than sour cream. If you have it, use it and skip the water.
Sources consulted
Good with
From Christoph Mayer