31. avocado vinaigrette

No anchovies for me,please.
Avocado vinaigrette served in some of the fine restaurants of Mombasa have a bit of anchovies in it. Most restaurant owners do not understand that when you are a vegetarian it includes no fish! Most say but fish is vegetarian. Did he mean the fish was a vegetarian? If you are lucky to get vegetarian avocado vinaigrette as a starter, then you just eat it quietly savouring the acetic acid because you will be paying for the dish at the end of the meal. Obviously, I have stopped ordering avocado vinaigrette at the restaurants and instead make my own at home whenever avocados are in full season. Vinaigrette is simply a mixture of oil and vinegar, sometimes seasoned with spices, herbs and other ingredients like anchovies, fruit, garlic, shallots etc. The norm is 3 parts of a good neutral or flavoured oil to 1 part of a good quality vinegar and not acetic acid which is very commonly sold in the supermarkets here. If you can’t buy a good quality vinegar then just use fresh lemon juice.
Vinaigrette actually translates into a french dressing and can be used for most salads.
AVOCADO VINAIGRETTE
Serves 2
1 ripe avocado
1/2 tomato
1/2 small onion or shallot
1 tsp chopped mint /coriander /basil
1 tsp lemon juice /balsamic vinegar/cider vinegar/wine vinegar
3 tsps olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper powder
- Chop the tomato and onion finely. Mix together in a bowl. Add to it the herbs and pepper.
- Whisk lemon juice, oil and salt very well. Add this to the tomato onion mixture. Mix well.
- Cut the avocado into half. Remove the seed.
- Spoon the mixture into each half of the avocado and serve.
- If you need to serve this dish as a starter to guests, you can keep the tomato mixture ready in advance in the fridge but do not add the salt. Add salt just before serving.
- If you are working with more avocados, then brush each half with lemon juice to prevent it from turning black.
- Instead of onion or shallot can use spring onions, chopped finely.
- Can add a tsp of finely chopped walnuts or pine nuts for an extra special treat. Remember to toast them slightly in a pan.
- For chilli lovers, add finely chopped green chillis at your risk.
- As a tummy filler for ekadashi day, omit the onions. Can add chopped olives.
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1 Comments
Namrata Patel
May 1, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Oh mummy! This looks so yummy!