Simply Avocado Toast

A very simple but color avocado based breakfast sandwich (open faced). Add a fried egg to it and you have a near complete breakfast!

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
little bit of a red or orange bell pepper
half a peeled n sliced cucumber
2 slices rye toast
salt
pepper
Optional: Fried egg add on.

Fry an egg in a skillet and keep ready. Toast the rye bread slices. Lay flat on plate. Cut and scoop out avocado fruit, mash is down with a spoon and spread it. Add assorted veggies on to other side.

Fresh Avocado, red pepper, cucumber slices on rye toast.
add salt and pepper to spice it up

This is from a dinner sandwich I made a few days, when I felt like eating breakfast type food for dinner!
Add some spicy salsa to complement it

Avocado and Turmeric - what the heck!

Avocados are amazing seasonal fruits. The primary season is late winter/early spring but you can find them in markets year round. They are not too sweet, have useful fats and come with a large pits (seeds) that can be dried and used as coins in board games.

Some people may not like the texture of the avocado fruit but don't let that discourage you. If you love avocados, then game on and enjoy it in different ways. I like them raw as slices, or add them to smoothies (avocado, carrot, banana + milk - no sugar!) or use it in salads as small chunks. Avocados have many benefits and uses as detailed here and here.

Today I present a one of my favorite avocado recipes, blending some Indian spices (esp. the awesome turmeric) to make a colorful sandwich (read the facebook post here). This one uses the healthy fat present in the avocado as a carrier for increased bioabsorption of turmeric in our body. 

Final product, fully loaded gargantua avocado sandwich

Step 1: The ingredients: Avocado, spinach, onions, jeera seeds, whole black pepper, turmeric powder, cheddar cheese, lemon slice. Optional: carrots, red onions, red peppers

roasting the spices in butter, you can also use coconut oil etc. even just 2 drops will do.

melting the cheese on the bread

mashing the roasted spices and avocado together

Carrots on cheese, peppers on avocado

Cheese on ciabatta, avocado on other half

Enjoy! If you have a different take on this or suggestions, please comment below or on our facebook page!

KALE DHOKLA AVO SALAD

Using Gits instant dhokla mix, I cheated and made myself a brunch snack yesterday. Dhokla is a steamed dish made from a mixture of powdered lentil flour and rice that is used to make a fermented batter.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 8-15 mins
Garnish and serving time: 5 mins

Ingredients:
GITS Dhokla mix
Measuring cups
Water
Asafoetida
Flax, Cumin & mustard seeds
Curry leaves or cilantro leaves
Kale or spinach leaves
tomatoes, onions, avocado (optional)
Yoghurt or ricotta cheese
Fresh green chilis

General Write up/Method
With the "instant mix" I believe the fermentation process is paused the material dried to make the powder, which when reconstituted (when added to water again) becomes a quick, ready to use batter.

I used two batches from the same packet. One half I made using the prep and steaming instructions for stove top. I used a metal tray that was pregreased with vegetable oil spray, inside a pressure cooker without the weight. I had the tray stand on a small metal ring and then had water around it to produce steam. I steamed it for 14 mins.

I also cooked a second batch in the microwave in a large glass bowl that was pregreased with butter. I microwaved for 5 mins, then paused, checked and microwaved for another 1.5 mins. Times vary with altitude, power etc, adjust accordingly. I used this site All About Konkan as a reference.

Cooked dhokla being removed from glass bowl

Garnish: I garnished with roasted mustard, cumin & flax seeds and also some sauteed chopped onion, sauteed curry leaves, asafoetida and green chilies (fresh). Finally I sprinkled some fresh tomatoes, lime juice and added plain yoghurt to the side before serving.

This is an excellent vegetarian dish that has a light feeling and can be easily served up as a salad where this substitutes chicken pieces or tofu pieces. you can also add any type of cheese to your salad, but substituting ricotta instead of yoghurt may also work. Just for fun I added up some avocado chunks and kale leaves to make it more colorful.

Dhokla Salad with avocado chunks.

How would you modify your dhokla? Please comment and let me know!