This is a brilliant stand-in-the-kitchen-and-eat dish, which you can prepare in advance, cook in front of your friends, and serve straight from the pan with drinks. It is a dish most suited to a fish or vegetarian main course. I, for one, do not advocate meat-heavy dinners. You raise the temperature with the spice then cool it with the guacamole, all in one mouthful.

The guacamole can be chilled for up to an hour before you want it, so all you need to do is spoon it over the meatballs, cold with hot, when they are cooked.

Make the meatballs
1. Throw everything into a large bowl and mix together well with your fingers, making sure you don't rub your eyes afterward; chili is lethal. Form into small balls, the size of walnuts. At this point, you can refrigerate the meat for an hour or two until you need it. Remember, if you cover the meatballs and put them in the refrigerator, don't cook them until they come back to room temperature.

2. I cook mine on a griddle with no fat — there is enough in the meatballs — until crusted and crisped all over and cooked through to the stage where no pink juices flow out of the meat when you test it with a skewer.

Make the guacamole
1. Mash the avocados on a plate with a fork until they are smooth, but with the odd lump for texture. Stir in the lime juice, chilies, and salt. Scrape into a bowl, cover, and chill for an hour. Stir in the cilantro, taste, and adjust the seasoning and citrus to taste.

2. Lob spoons of the guacamole onto the pork meatballs hot from the griddle. If you want to eat this as a main course, you can make the pork balls into large, flat burgers, broil them in the same way, top them with guacamole, and put them over and under a good floury bun or tortilla.

Recipe © 2004 Tamasin Day-Lewis. All rights reserved.
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