W e are surrounded by plenty of fruits and vegetables whose benefits we seldom understand, and sometimes feel handicapped on how to use the produce seamlessly in our everyday culinary expeditions. One such fruit is avocado. It is a super food that was about a decade ago really hard to find on the shelves of our stores, forget seeing them with regular subzi walas. It is now one of the most prized ingredients for chefs. It was earlier regarded as a fruit which would mostly find its usage in Western cuisine. Guacamole dip is possibly the most common and the best recipe one can whip up using avocados. It is simple, quick to prepare and surely pleases the palate of gourmands.
Avocados have a way of blending with whatever you put them in. They do not have a very strong singular taste. They have a nutty taste and a creamy texture. This characteristic actually is a blessing in disguise as you can use it to make almost anything — from a savoury or a sweet dish to even a beverage. For me the real challenge was to move over from what the world was already doing and get the fruit into our daily, local cuisine.
Avocados start turning brown in some time after cutting, plus they cannot withstand prolonged cooking like a biryani or a curry would need. So I had to think of ways where it could be used without hampering the fruit while keeping alive the Indian flavours.
The first recipe came easy as I was sipping lassi at home. I made an avocado and kiwi lassi merely by combining yogurt, ripe avocados, kiwi and honey. It was a hit in the house. Next I chopped a ripe but firm avocado and mixed it with the bhel puri that mom was preparing for the evening and suddenly it enhanced the flavour of the snack. I was convinced that I could take it to the next level where I could cook it as a kebab or as a curry.
In my attempts, I made a chicken minced kebab and added a generous amount of diced avocados, and to my surprise they were the best tasting kebabs that I remember in a long time. It has become one of my signatures and I don’t shy away from cooking them again and again, now called the chicken and avocado kebabs.
The best was when I incorporated them into litti chokha, a poor man’s dish from UP and Bihar. This was a litmus test but replacing potatoes with roasted avocados in the chokha was the best move and combining mustard oil with it was brilliant.
The writer is the executive sous chef at Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon
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Avocado Chicken Kebabs with pineapple vodka salsa
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This chicken tikki gets a kiwi twist with the addition of Hass avocados. The subtle flavour of the kebab with the buttery notes of the avocado makes for a hassle-free healthy snack.
Ingredients
- 1 avocado (ripe, firm),
- 250 gm chicken leg mince,
- salt to taste,
- ½ tsp shahi jeera,
- a small piece of ginger,
- 4-5 garlic cloves,
- 1 small green chilli,
- 2 processed cheese cubes,
- 1 tbsp green coriander,
- pepper powder to taste,
- olive oil for shallow frying
For pineapple vodka salsa
- 1 pineapple chopped,
- ½ cup onion chopped,
- 2 tbsp green coriander chopped,
- 2 lemons juiced,
- salt,
- pepper and sugar to taste,
- 150ml vodka
To prepare the salsa, mix all ingredients and serve.
Method
- Run a sharp knife from the top of the avocado in a circular motion. Slightly twist the avocado and separate the halves. Remove the seed and discard it. Peel off the hard skin and cut it into small dices.
- In a blender, add all the ingredients except avocados and blend to make a rough paste. Remove and mix in the avocado dices. Apply a little oil on your palms and roll out flat patties using the paste. Heat a tawa and cook the patties on both sides till brown. Serve hot with salsa.
Avocado Bhel Puri
Bhel puri is a popular street-side snack. This snack is an addiction and the addition of Hass avocados makes snacking colourful and healthy. The soft buttery avocado complements the crunchy onions, sev and papri.
Ingredients
- 1 avocado (ripe, firm)
- 2 cups sev
- 4 papri
- ¼ cup each onion and tomato chopped
- 1 green chilli chopped
- 1 lemon
- Salt to taste
- Green coriander chopped, to taste
Method
- Cut the avocado in two halves. Remove the seed, peel off the skin and cut into small dices.
- Mix together sev, papri, onion, tomato, green chilli, avocados and salt. Toss them gently and add lemon juice and chopped green coriander. Toss again and serve immediately.
