Easy avocado salsa

I love easy, simple recipes that showcase the main ingredient. That is what the recipe below is all about.  It's easy, can be prepared in minutes and the outcome is subtle and delicious. Like the mango salsa, this recipe is very versatile and can be used in burritos, as a chunky guacamole dip or liberally sprinkled on cheesy nachos. I've also added the avocado salsa to my regular iceberg lettuce salad (just be sure to leave out the cilantro) for a fresh spin.

Enjoy!

Avocado Salsa

Some things I've learned along the way:
1. Once you've cut the avocado, be sure to drizzle with lime or lemon juice to keep it from browning. A little goes a long way..one teaspoon of lemon or lime juice is enough for one avocado.
2. When you use tomatoes for a non sauce recipe, such as in this recipe, be sure to remove the seeds. Doing so will prevent the salsa, dip, whatever from becoming too runny.

Ingredients:
-2 ripened avocados, diced
-1/2 roma tomato, de-seeded and diced
-Handful of Cilantro, roughly chopped
-Salt and black pepper, to taste
-2 teaspoons of lime juice

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and let stand for 10-15 minutes until the ingredients are well combined.

Yummy mango salsa

My love for mangos started very early in life. Much like the coconut tree, mango trees are abundant in Kerala. Whereas in the States, the mango fruit is still considered exotic, in much of India (and other parts of the world such as South and Central America) it is consumed daily in many forms, from modest recipes to  truly complicated ones that take hours to prepare. One of my favorite childhood memory is sitting on the stairs outside my grandparents' beautiful home and eating green, still raw mangos that we picked from her yard. My grandmother would cut the mango into thick slices and sprinkle it with a dash of salt and indian red pepper. We savored every bite.  Raw mangos are also used to create some delicious Malayali curries. They are a bit complicated but I promise to share them in the future when my mom is here to help with the recipe.

Mangos are also used in non-savory dishes. One of my all time favorite is a drink called mango lassi. yumm. yumm. yumm. Although I've only enjoyed this drink in a restaurant, I do hope to try my hand at making it at home. If I do, I'll def share it with all of you.

I love the versatility of this recipe. You could use it in a taco, on nachos or on baked white fish. It's fabulous.

Hope you'll try it.

Mango Salsa

Some thing I've learned along the way:
1. The mango has a HUGE pit in the middle which can be challenging when trying to cut the fruit. The best way to cut a mango? Start by cutting the top and bottom parts of the mango to create a stable base. Use a veggie pealer to cut away the tough skin, cut the outer parts of the fruit working your way in to the center. Discard the pit.

Ingredients:
-2 ripe mangos, cut and diced into small pieces
-Handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
-Dash of indian red pepper (may substitute cayenne)
-Salt and black pepper, to taste
-Juice from 1/2 a lime

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and let stand for 15-20 minutes to allow the ingredients to mix well. This recipe may be made a day in advance but be sure to keep it refrigerated.

Enjoy!

Till next time, To Life!

A much needed taste of summer....

I am not a winter person. In fact, its safe to say, i hate the winter. The cold, the frigid wind and the constant feeling of being chilled to the bone is NOT my idea of fun. I love to feel the sun on my face while sipping an ice cold drink and relaxing with a great book. Since that is still a few months away *sigh*, I wanted to re-create the summer feeling with food. Something about the hot summer months lends itself to eating light and delicately flavored food. So I cranked up the heat in the apartment and sat down to dinner with Mike to savor my summer inspired fare. :)

Enjoy!

Shrimp Taco with Mango and Avocado Salsa

A few things I've learned along the way:
1. Flavor every layer of a dish. That means flavor with salt, pepper etc as you add each new layer of ingredients.
2. How do you know when an avocado is ready to be used? Most fruits turn black when they begin to spoil. Not an acvocado! It's green when it's raw and turns black when it's ripe. Be sure to use only ripened avocados unless the recipe specifically calls for the raw version. Also, lighly squeeze the avocado. One that's ready to be used will yield to the touch without caving in.


Ingredients:
1 pound of shrimp, deveined and cleaned
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 pinch of Indian red pepper (may substitute with cayenne)
Tortillas
Juice of one lime
Mango salsa, recipe here
Avocado salsa, recipe here
Cilantro, roughly chopped
Vegetable oil, as needed

Directions:
Thoroughly clean the shrimp. Drizzle with vegetable oil and season with salt, black pepper and indian red pepper or cayenne pepper. Let stand for 5 minutes while the shrimp marinates.

In the meantime, warm the tortillas on stovetop. Cover the tortillas with a lid/aluminum foil to keep it warm.

Cook the shrimp. <<side note: click here for a refresher on how to cook shrimp>>

Now, it's time to build the taco. Layer a few pieces of shrimp on a tortilla and add the mango and avocado salsa and enjoy. It's that easy!

Till next time, To Life!