Vegan Tortillas

Ingredients:

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

oil

1 tsp sugar or agave

1 tin butter or other beans

1 ripe avocado

1-2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp mint and/or coriander

1 pinch salt

2 tbsp Oatly or soya cream

6 tortillas

 

 

Instructions:

1. Peel and chop the onion and garlic, then fry lightly in oil. Add sugar or agave to caramelise.

2. Add the beans.

3. Mash the avocado with the lemon juice, mint/coriander, salt, and cream.

4. Pill the beans and guacamole in the tortillas.

Raw Chocolate Mousse

At the library, I randomly picked up The Raw Food Diet by Christine Bailey. I’ve done some raw cooking before, so I was intrigued.

 

The first recipe I tried was her chocolate-orange hazelnut mousse, but I adapted it quite a bit to suit what we had at home and our tastes.

 

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1 orange

25 g cocoa powder (or 10 g cocoa powder plus 20 g dark chocolate)

1 tbsp agave

2 tsp icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

30 g chopped hazelnuts

¼ cup water

 

Instructions:

1. Halve, pit, and chop the avocado. Put the flesh in a food processor.

2. Juice and zest the orange and add to the avocado.

3. Mix in all the other ingredients. Process well, until smooth.

4. Chill for 30 or more minutes, then serve.

Vegan Avocado Ice Cream

Avocado is one of those glorious fruits that can be sweet or savoury. I was used to it in salads until I went to an ice cream place run by Filipinos and fell in love with their avocado ice cream. I’ve also used avocado in mousses.

 

This is my vegan version.

 

Ingredients:

3 avocados

¼ cup icing sugar

½ cup rice milk (or more, as needed)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

 

Instructions:

1. Halve the avocados and scoop out the flesh.

2. Blend the avocados with the other ingredients until smooth.

3. Pour into a freezer-safe container (Tupperware is great) and freeze for at least a few hours, then serve.

Avocado Mousse

There is an ice cream shop not far from where I grew up that has many unusual types of ice cream. At least unusual to me – the owners are from the Philippines and they serve flavours that are typical of their homeland, such as yam and avocado. I really like those flavours and I began to realise that avocado in particular works well in both sweet and savoury dishes.

So when I saw this recipe for avocado mousse, I wanted to try it, although I adapted it to make it a bit sweeter and creamier. M was pleasantly surprised, as she had expected it to be disgusting, and we even served it to a friend who came over.

I think it could also work well to freeze this mousse and serve it as ice cream. Yum!

Ingredients:
2 avocados
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup sugar, plus 1 tbsp
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup milk
¾ cup double cream

Instructions:
1. Halve, peel and pit the avocados, and put the flesh into a food processor. Mix until soft, then add the lemon juice, the ½ cup of sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix again.
2. Add the milk and mix well.
3. Whip the double cream with the 1 tbsp of sugar and the other 1 tsp of vanilla until firm.
4. Fold the avocado mixture into the whipped cream.
5. Refrigerate for an hour or so and then serve.

Avocado with Caviar

Avocado is so versatile and yet many people rarely use it except in guacamole or the occasional salad topping. I’ve had avocado ice cream that is amazing, for example, and I think it’s worth trying avocado in more sweet dishes as well as savoury ones.

I made a simple avocado starter the other day. M didn’t like the raw onion in it, so next time I’d caramelise it first, to soften the sharp oniony edge.

Ingredients:
2 avocados (1 avocado per person, or half an avocado if you’re serving this as a starter)
½ half red onion
200 ml sour cream or crème fraiche
60 g caviar (use fish roe if you eat fish or one of the vegetarian substitutes if not, such as the ones made from seaweed)

Instructions:
1. Half the avocados and remove the stones.
2. Dice the red onion. Mix it into the sour cream or crème fraiche and then mix in the caviar.
3. Fill the avocados with the creamy mixture.

Pseudo-Guacamole, or Avocado Sauce

This isn’t the most authentic guacamole recipe you’ll fine, but it is easy and it tastes very good with the quesadillas I posted about yesterday. You can adjust the spice level and the amount of creaminess, so it perfectly suits your taste. Some like it hot – I certainly do – and in that case, you might want to use the extra-spicy Tabasco sauce made from habanero (also called Scotch bonnet) peppers, the spiciest pepper around.

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
½ cup Greek yogurt or other plain yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp dried mint
Tabasco sauce, to taste

Instructions:
1. Mash the avocado and mix it with the yogurt into a cream sauce.
2. Mix in the mint and drop in Tabasco sauce to taste.