AvocaNO #2 - Avocado toast (kimchi and grilled cheese)

With a little experimentation, curiosity and craziness, I found out that avocados go well with something I really love: KIMCHI - the love of my life (among many others). If you know me well, you know I love Korean food and that includes the glorious fermented cabbage, kimchi. Good kimchi gives you a kick in the tastebuds, a real party in your mouth. It's got sour, spicy and crunchy all there at the same time. And as I said earlier, I don't particularly love avocados. But I'm willing to try almost anything to make the eating smoother and less gross.

I like to pair kimchi with everything I can. Rice, noodles, yam cake... you name it. So naturally I tried to pair kimchi with my smashed avocados on toast instead of adding salt and pepper (I don't even like pepper so that's a bust). You must be thinking, how can this possibly taste good. Surprisingly it did and it worked out so well! Kimchi has a very strong and distinct taste, while in my opinion avocado has a more subtle flavour. So instead of the usual salt and pepper, I used kimchi to enhance the overall taste. The kimchi did not take away the quiet taste of the avocado and is basically a substitute for the minimum salt and pepper.

Avocado Kimchi Toast
Bread
1 Avocado
A lot of kimchi
That's it
This doesn't even require a written recipe

Avocado grilled cheese sandwich
1/2 avocado (if you love avocado, go all out and use 1 if you want to)
A lot of cheese (I used shredded mozzarella from the packet)
2 slices of bread
Butter

My second avocado toast is pretty common - avocado grilled cheese sandwich. Unfortunately, I put too little cheese and 1 avocado was actually quite a lot for a sandwich so I didn't like it that much. I was hoping for the melted cheese to envelope the whole sandwich but clearly I didn't put enough!

Ingredients: cheese, bread, avocado, butter

Sandwich the cheese and smashed avocado together

Place the sandwich (buttered side down)

When golden brown, flip your sandwich to other buttered side.
Tip: Use a plate or something with a bit of weight, and place it on your sandwich to ensure the heat fully grills the whole sandwich.

And there ya have it.

Tip to self: ADD MORE CHEESE next time.

AvocaNO (for people who don't like avocados) #1 - Tuna avocado pasta

Personally, I don't really like avocados. THERE I SAID IT. Avocado-lovers come at me. There's very little taste, the texture is like butter and I don't like the texture of it in my mouth. I'm fine with guacamole when it's mixed up with all kinds of different things that it tastes more than just avocado. And except when there was one time I ate sliced avocado with toast in Australia which was actually tolerable. The texture wasn't as gross as when I make it. BUT, having said that I do know how beneficial and nutritious it is for my health. Those healthy fats are good for me. So I have been trying to make myself love avocados by eating more of them.

My second struggle with avocados is real, and I'm sure it is relatable to everyone: Picking a good, ripe avocado. I usually pick the ones that are going to be ripe in a few days because I gotta plan my avocado recipe out. It's always hit and miss (more misses than hits) when I open the avocados, only to find the flesh still hard, rotten/too soft or just not at the right condition to be eaten.

Thirdly, avocado is so expensive. 1 avocado here costs an average of RM6! It's not something I can purchase and make very often, so when I do I gotta make sure it's yummy and not wasted.

I know there are recipes like this out there, but my thought process went something like this. I had some cans of tuna at home, untouched and asking to be used. People usually mix tuna with mayonnaise and I don't like mayonnaise (at this point, I know I may sound like a picky person when it comes with my food but I'm not!) mainly because of the taste, texture and how fattening it is. I try my best to substitute it with a healthier alternative, greek yoghurt (which also isn't cheap).

So I bought 3 avocados for a cheaper price because they were starting to ripen and the supermarket was trying to clear off their stock. I used the first avocado to make avocado kimchi toast which will be the next post in my avocano post series.

I just used the second avocado to make tuna avocado pasta. Something which I will definitely make again in the future. It's an even healther alternative to greek yoghurt and mayonnaise! It provides the smooth texture and acts as a glue for all my ingredients. There are other avocado pasta recipes out there but this is my own improvised recipe. The recipe is based on my taste, preference and portion. I put some salt, and if it's not enough I add a bit more in until it tastes right.

Tuna avocado pasta
Ingredients (serves 2 people):
10 Roma tomatoes halved
3/4 stalk of celery diced into tiny cubes
A pinch of pepper
1 t/b salt
1 t/b sugar
2/3 t/b lemon juice
2 tsp oregano
2 t/b Greek yoghurt
1 tsp dijon mustard (I wasn't even sure if mine was expired lol)
1 avocado, mashed
1 can of tuna (I used the Ayam brand one soaked in extra virgin olive oil, I don't think it matters)
2 servings of pasta (I used farfalle, type of pasta probably doesn't matter either)

There's no rocket science involved here. Just cook your pasta in salted water till al dente, mix all the other ingredients together. As simple as that. I love this recipe because I don't mind eating avocados like this. Even though my recipe is as good as it is, I think it can be further enhanced but I haven't found out how right now. Maybe a bit more lemon juice or onions? It just needs a bit more kick (by not adding mustard or pepper because I don't like both). If you have any ideas, do tell me!

#carmeneatsclean

Carmen Eats Clean: Natural Banana 'pancakes'

Personally, I can't really label it as pancakes because it doesn't contain any flour that gives it that fluffiness, which is the cornerstone of pancakes IMO.

Today, I followed Blogilates' recipe in making easy banana pancakes.

I used 2 eggs and 1 banana, as stated in the recipe. I didn't have a masher or a whisk, so it was slightly difficult for me to mash the bananas with a ladel. Oh well, that's morning arm exercise for you.

Drizzled some good ol' olive oil in the pan and spread the banana-egg mixture on it. These babies cook pretty quickly so I had to keep my eye on them the whole time, getting ready to flip it when it's done.

It is a very simple quick way to whip up breakfast which is right for me, because sleep is more important than breakfast and I'd rather spend precious time in bed than making an elaborate breakfast platter in the morning.

However, this was basically glorified sweet banana omelettes. The fact hit me only when I started frying them, because in the video they looked like pancakes! With a rounded circumference and that light brownish-white colour pancakes have... Thought mine would turn out the same way, but it really just looked like omelettes, yellow and eggy (Disclaimer: I dislike omelettes so this was clearly displeasing to me). Could also be because I suck at cooking, but I digress.

But hey it actually tastes good if I forget the fact it is an omelette. I can convince myself to live on it if I was in stuck in a zombie apocalypse and only had eggs and banana for survival.*

*Let's hope Blogilates never reads this post. In the event that she does... I love you! Don't hate me!

Carmen Eats Clean: Grilled Vegetables

Yes, Carmen is trying to eat clean. Note that 'trying' is the key word.

So the day before I went to Ben's General Food Store to check on their 50% off produce. Being the Asian that I am (and having a frugal mom), I was happy to see brinjals priced at RM2! I think that's pretty worth it for 3 moderately sized brinjals, right? Got some mushrooms and baby spinach too.

This didn't turn out as 'clean' as I wanted to because the amount of olive oil I had to mix with each batch of vegetables going in the oven was probably excessive, but I didn't want it to stick to the foil! I put too little oil the first round and my julienned brinjal pieces stuck to the foil.

I followed this recipe (not really a recipe, more of a tutorial lol). I know putting vegetables in an oven isn't rocket science. But I am horrible at cooking and I wasn't going to take any chances.

Some Tapping Tapir soda to cool off the heat

I used crushed garlic-infused olive oil to lubricate the vegetables. Added salt, pepper, dried oregano and parsley (expired, but still usable I guess?) for seasoning. And screw using a basting brush, I didn't have one.

Before I put my vegetables in the oven, I googled thoroughly on how long I should leave the vegetables in the oven for. In the end, I gave up on following online instructions. I felt that it's mostly trial and error, and from your own observation. Also depending on your oven. I used a pathetic toaster oven! Small, but does the job (very inefficiently I might add, it took me almost 3 hours to grill all my vegetables). Different vegetables have different cooking times, and not to mention I didn't cut them all the exact same way. The longer you let it grill, the more caramelized (therefore, sweeter) it is. But you also run the risk of burning your vegetables like I did!

The end result:

Mmmmm. I like the taste of grilled, caramelized vegetables. I almost burnt my baby carrots from leaving it in the oven too long, but it came out sweet and juicy. The mushrooms were in a separate bowl so it was left out in the picture. But those tasted good too :)

So there you have it. I usually can't cook to save my life. I previously made tuna sandwiches and instant noodles, and it tasted disgusting. Grilled vegetables however... not bad! If I had a much bigger oven, I would roast/grill them more frequently.