Avocado Basil Pesto Recipe

      This is yet another simple quick recipe which I tried, to use up the abundantly grown basil leaves in our pot in the balcony :P I always look for new recipes to include avocado and some other veggies in diet which are not so regularly used. Avocado, spinach, kale, broccoli have entered our kitchen after I came to USA. We used to buy broccoli, capsicum once in a while in India. But these vegetables have become a part of the routine vegetable shopping here. 

     Whenever we are about to get a family size lays chips or tostitos, we would buy a Ranch or Salsa for it. I had been thinking of ways to avoid buying store bought dips for chips. Remembering the ingredients that were already back at home, I decided to make this avocado dip or pesto to start with the sauce/dip varieties. I wanted to use pine nuts in the recipe. But, I could not find one at the grocery store. I didn't have enough time to go to a Whole Foods store and look for it as Abhinav was at home with grandparents for a longtime without me. So I preferred to use Pistachios over Walnuts in this recipe which turned out to be good. These dips and pestos are a good way to use up the walnuts and pistachios sitting in the fridge :P 

     Enjoy this no-cook recipe and treat urself with your favourite chips and this dip or spread a lavish amount of this dip on a tortilla or a regular chappathi or phulka. Or add a dash of this pesto to your raw carrot/cucumber salad....Mmmmmm.... Yummmm...!!!!

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 0 || Serves: 3 || Category: Dip/Condiments/Sauce

Ingredients:

1. Avocado - 1

2. Basil leaves - 20 to 25

3. Pistachios - 10 to15 (can use pine nuts or walnuts too)

4. Salt - as required

5. Olive oil - 2 tsp

6. Garlic - 1 pod (optional) 

7. Lemon - 1/2

Method:

1. Wash the basil leaves. Cut and de-seed the avocado. Scoop out the pulp. Soak the pistachios for 30 mins in warm water. Add the avocado pulp, basil leaves, pistachios, garlic (later I didn't add garlic as I felt it will dominate the flavor), salt to a blender/mixi and grind to a smooth paste. Squeeze lemon juice and mix well. 

Suggestions:

• Instead of soaking the pistachios, I microwaved it for a min. 
• Pine nuts or walnuts can also be used in the place of pista. Adding some of these nuts gives a good creamy texture due to their oil content. The dip by itself is creamy due to the nature of Avocado. 
• If refrigerating, add a little more lemon juice and mix well. Fill it to the brim of the glass or ceramic jar and drizzle olive oil on top and close tightly. Use it up within 2 days so as to not lose its freshness and flavor. 

Avocado Poha Sandwich Recipe

     This is one more recipe idea adapted from here - Wholegreens, my friend Sreeraksha's blog. She has a very good collection of innovative healthy vegetarian recipes. Hooked by the goodness of the recipes in her blog, I had tried Broccoli Bharta earlier and then the base idea for this sandwich. 
The avocado poha and veggie salad can be consumed as such. It tastes so yummy. Only because Mani doesn't like poha, I used the salad as a spread for bread sandwich and tricked him into eat poha !!!

Prep Time: 15 mins + 10 mins soaking time || Cook Time: 20 mins || Yields: 4 sandwiches || Category: Sandwich/Breakfast Recipe

Ingredients:
1. Avocado - 1
2. Onion - 1
3. Capsicum - 1/2
4. Carrot - 1
5. Tomato - 1 small
6. Coriander leaves 
7. Amchur powder - 2 tsp
8. Pepper powder - 2 tsp
9. Cumin powder - 2 tsp
10. Salt - as required
11. Lemon - 1 small
12. Poha (Flattened rice/Aval) - 75-100gms
13. White bread - 8 slices
14. Hing (Asafoetida) - 2 tsp (optional)

Method:
1. Wash and chop all the veggies finely. Scoop out the pulp of avocado and mash it well, adding few drops of lemon juice. In a bowl, add pepper powder, cumin powder, amchur powder, salt and avocado pulp and mix well. 

2. Wash poha twice and drain the water. Sprinkle some water and leave it aside for 10-15 mins. To the avocado pulp mixture, add all the veggies and mix well. Let it sit for 5 mins. 

3. To the mixed veggies, add the softened poha and mix well. Coat one side of a bread slice with this avocado poha spread and close it with another slice. 

4. Arrange the sandwiches on a grilling plate and cook till golden crust forms, drizzling oil or ghee on both the sides. 

Suggestions:

• Garam masala/chili flakes, asafoetida can be added if desired.
• Groundnuts can be added for a crunchy texture.
• Combination of vegetables can be altered as per taste.
• Using whole wheat bread in the place of white bread would be a still healthier option.
• The sandwich can be made in a normal dosa pan or in a sandwich maker too.
• The avocado poha stuffing can be had as such as a salt too, instead of using it as a stuffing for sandwich.