Mexican-Inspired Egg Salad

Mexican food has long had an influence on the American food scene, especially in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southern California; all areas with historical ties to Mexico and its food, and also all with significant minorities of their populations made up of people of Mexican descent. Often from these areas, Mexican food influences have spread to other parts of the United States.  

 

This egg salad has some spicy kick to it from the chili pepper, but only as much as you prefer it to have.

 

Ingredients (4 to 5 servings):

 

6 eggs, hard boiled, cooled and peeled

1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper (small chop)

1/3 cup chopped green onions, white and green

1 jalapeno or serrano chili (seeded and finely chopped)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons ancho chili powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 medium avocado, mashed and mixed with 1 tablespoon lime juice

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

1 teaspoon olive oil

crumbled dried oregano (Mexican oregano, if you have it) 

 

Chop the peeled hard boiled eggs and put the chopped egg into a bowl. Add the chopped red bell pepper, chopped green onions, finely chopped chili pepper (jalapeno or serrano), chopped cilantro, ground cumin, ancho chili powder, garlic powder and celery salt; mix briefly to begin distributing the ingredients. In a cup or bowl, mix together the mashed avocado (with the mixed in lime juice), the mayonnaise and the teaspoon of olive oil, then mix this avocado mayo into the egg and seasonings. Refrigerate for at least 90 minutes, but a few hours is better. Make sandwiches using whole wheat bread or flour tortillas; garnish with a sprinkle of dried crumbled oregano.

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Diverse- This word, meaning "varied in characteristics," is really a compound, with the first part being "di," which goes back to Indo European "dwhis/dwis," which had the meaning "twice, again, two ways;" thus also, "aside (from), away." This gave its Italic/Latin offspring "dis," with the "aside (from)" meaning, as well as some other meanings. The second part of "diverse" is "verse," which is related to "versus," which was borrowed into English from Latin, and to "verse" ('line of writing,' 'line of poetry,' 'song lyrics'), a Latin-derived word borrowed into Germanic and passed to its Old English offspring, then later reinforced by French. It goes back to Indo European "wer," which had the notion of "turn, bend, wind" (with a long 'i' sound), and this gave Latin "vertere," meaning "to turn." The two parts were combined in the compound, "divertere," meaning "to turn in varied directions, go different ways," and from this came "diversus," which meant "different, varied, various." This gave Latin-based Old French "divers," with much the same meaning. English borrowed "divers" (it is NOT related to 'divers' =swimmers) from French in the 1200s, with the meaning "different," but in the 1300s the spelling changed to "diverse," likely under the influence of Latin "diversus."