When I first came across avocados in stores, I was amazed. It was a still little known fruit then, but my unbridled desire to experiment made me buy it. I don’t remember exactly what I did with it the first time, but gradually I discovered guacamole, simple salads in which I put diced avocado, avocado ice cream and avocado chocolate creams, so I bought this fruit more and more often.
Today I want to present you 2 unusual recipes with avocado. They are a melange between nettles and avocado, the first, and mung beans and avocado, the second.
First dish: mashed nettles with avocado
I told you before that I freeze nettles in the spring, sometimes in the fall. I clean them, wash them well, boil them for 2 minutes, then put them through a blender and freeze them in 2-serving bags. I defrost a bag at a time, and make a simple mash with olive oil, a little salt and a little garlic. Or I make sauce, which is pretty much the same thing, only more runny and with more garlic and possibly a teaspoon of mustard.
Now I had several pieces of ripe avocado and I didn’t know what to do with them. So I did this: I put the nettles from a bag, thawed, a small avocado, 4-5 cloves of garlic, the juice of half a lemon and half a teaspoon of salt into the blender. I mixed until I got a thick puree that was matched perfectly with half a small breastless chicken.
Second dish: mung bean and avocado spread
For the second recipe, I quickly boiled 50 grams of mung beans, pre-hydrated for 3-4 hours in warm water. I mixed the beans with a small avocado, salt and lemon juice. I added a tablespoon of water to adjust the consistency. Some red onion, cut into small cubes, would have worked too, but I was in a hurry, I was too hungry. Depending on which angle you look at it, it’s either mashed beans with avocado or guacamole with beans. Whatever I would call it, it turned out to be a spreadable goodness, which I quickly spread on a slice of millet bread.
Do you know how to choose a ripe avocado? First of all, you’d rather win the lottery than find a ripe avocado at the grocery store. So we buy it unripe and practice our patience waiting for it to ripen at our house. We introduce them to the other fruits in the fruit bowl and let them play together for a few days. When it no longer feels hard like a piece of wood, but the finger goes into it a little when we press it, it is ready. If the finger goes in too much, it’s a lost cause, it’s no longer good. The interval in which it is good to eat is short, so we must not lose sight of it, and as soon as it feels ripe to the touch, we must eat it. Good luck with that! 😊
