Guacamole – Authentic Mexican Avocado Dip

               Avocados are considered as one of the healthiest food in the planet because it consists of 25 essential nutrients. Guacamole is an avocado based sauce originated in Mexico. It is traditionally made with mashed ripe avocado and some seasonings. This simply quick recipe I got from my husband. Guacamole taste great with tortilla chips or as topping for any Mexican foods.

    Ingredients

       1 Fully Ripe Avocado
       1/2 Cup of Chopped Onion
       1/4 Cup of Chopped Tomato
   A Dash of Garlic Powder
   A Dash of Pepper Powder
       2 Tbsp of Chopped Cilantro/Coriander Leaves
       4-5 Drops of Lemon Juice
       1/2 Tsp of Salt

Cut avocado in lengthwise

Ingredients

Method

Cut the avocado into two halves and remove the seed.
Scoop the pulp with spoon.
Place avocado in a medium size bowl and mash it with spoon or fork until moderately smooth and creamy.
Now add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.
Perfect guacamole is ready to eat.
Dip your tortilla chips and enjoy.

View my video on Making of Guacamole”

Tips

Buy avocado 2-3 days in advance of your preparation day. Most avocado you find in store are rock hard so leave them outside to soften up for few days. This is to speed up the ripening process.
Use avocado when it is in dark green colour.
Onions are the mainstay for this recipe.It gives distinct flavor to the guacamole.
If you don’t have garlic powder, try with rest of the ingredients.
If you have any unused avocado, store them with seed so that you can use it later. Other trick is adding lime juice which prevents avocado from oxidation.

Health Benefits of Avocado

Inhibits the growth of cancer.
Rich in folate and vitamin C
High in beta-sitosterol, a compound helps to lower cholesterol level.

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Vazhaipoo Vadai / Banana Flower Fritters

Vazhaipoo vadai as in tamil or banana flower vadai is a tasty south-Indian fritter. This vadai is a tasty, deep-fried, finger licking savoury snack that goes good as an appetizer or a good snack to munch with a hot cup of tea. This is one of the many recipes my mother taught me.

Ingredients

1 Medium Size Banana Flower
5 Tbsp of Roasted Bengal Gram Powder/Pottukadalai
5-6 Red Chillies
1/2 Cup of Onion
1 Tsp of Cumin/Jeera
1 Tsp of Fennel/Sombu
1/2 Tsp of Turmeric
A Sprig of Curry Leaves
1 Tbsp of Coconut Powder
2 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Inch Finely Chopped Ginger

Method

Cleaning the banana flower is a tedious process.

Banana flower consists of many layers of bract. You can see a bunch of florets under each bracts. First remove the pink layer. Take out the florets found underneath. Remove all the layers one by one till you find the white dome like structure and collect all the florets.In each floret, you can see a string in the middle with a tiny head called stamen and also a small plastic like white cover around it. Both are not edible so trash it.

Take a pan with water and turmeric and add all the florets to it .Allow it to boil until you find the foaming at the top. Take off the pan from heat. Allow it to cool .
In a blender, grind boiled florets, red chillies, salt, ginger, garlic first and then to this mixture add cumin, fennel, onion, curry leaves and grind it coarsely.
Transfer this mixture to a bowl and add roasted bengal gram powder, coconut powder, salt and asafoetida.
Heat oil in pan and make a flat patty/vadai in your palm.

Drop the vadai in hot oil and cook in medium flame. Fry until both sides are golden and crispy.
Hot crispy vadai is ready to serve.

Tips

Make sure do not add too much of water while grinding. The water in vazhaipoo is enough.
You can add soaked channa dal instead of Roated bengal gram powder.
Adding roated bengal gram powder gives you soft vadai.
Always fry vadai in medium -low flame.

Health Benefits of Vazhaipoo Vadai

Great source of vitamins A, C and K
Excellent source of fiber.
Banana flowers possess antioxidant properties

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Potato Salad Recipe

           Potato Salad is a simple dish made from boiled potatoes. This is a popular dish in United States and Europe but the version of making potato salad vary from place to place across the world. Many people in the US love to eat their potato salad as a side dish with barbecue’s, baked beans and cold sandwiches in outdoors and picnics. My husband taught me this recipe. I love to eat this salad with cold sandwiches.

Ingredients

    1 Gold potatoes
    1/4 Cup of Chopped Onion
1/4 cup Chopped Celery
    1Tbsp of Mayonnaise
    1-2 Tbsp of Thick Yogurt
    1 Tsp of Yellow Mustard
1 Tsp of Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp of Sugar
1/2 Tsp of Red Chilly Powder
    Salt and Ground black pepper to taste

Method

Wash and cut the potatoes into small cubes.
There are two steps by which you can boil the potatoes

Take a bowl to that add potato, salt, garlic powder and water. Keep the bowl in microwave for 5 mins and keep it aside (or)
Place potato into a large pan and add water, salt and couple cloves of garlic and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.

In a separate bowl stir in chopped onion, celery, mayonnaise or yogurt, sugar or sweet relish, salt, chilly powder/cayenne pepper, black pepper and yellow mustard. Mix well and now add the boiled potatoes and toss well. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

Tips

Add scrambled eggs if you want.
If you don’t have mayonnaise, you can add more yogurt to it.
Serve it with cold sandwiches.

Health Benefits of Potatoes

Potatoes are high in fibers.
They are good for brain Function and easy digestion.