Summer Easy Food (3) - Avacado－French78部落格

The avocado (Persea americana) is a tree native to the Caribbean, Mexico, South America and Central America, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel. The name "avocado" also refers to the fruit (technically a large berry that contains a large seed) of the tree, which may be egg-shaped or spherical.

Avocados are a commercially valuable fruit and are cultivated in tropical climates throughout the world (and some temperate ones, such as California), producing a green-skinned, pear-shaped fruit that ripens after harvesting. Trees are partially self-pollinating and often are propagated through grafting to maintain a predictable quality and quantity of the fruit. Avocados are perennial.

Refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado

http://www.avocado.org/

Guacamole Recipe:

Ingredients:
* 4 ripe, avocados, peeled and pitted
* juice of 2 lemons
* 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
* 1/4 cup onion, diced (use red onion if available)
* 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
* 1 tomato, diced
* 5 jalapeno chiles, minced and seeded
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
* Salt to taste
* dash of Chili powder

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine lemon juice with avocados and mash coarsely with a fork.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients to the avocado mixture, stirring until well combined.
3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes prior to serving.

This is good party food, usually we serve with tortilla chips.

You can also refer the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWdmcLN4jyM&feature=related

California Roll:

Ingredients
1 cup (230g) prepared sushi rice (see below)
½ avocado
4 crab sticks (or real king crab or jumbo lump crab meat for a luxury California roll)
½ cucumber (preferably a kirby)
1 sheet dried nori seaweed
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
For a spicy California roll, add a few drops of hot pepper sauce to the mayonnaise

Preparation
Cut the peeled and pitted avocado and the peeled cucumber in quarters lengthwise.
Spread the sushi rice over the sheet of seaweed, and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the surface.
If you don’t have a bamboo rolling mat, place a sheet of plastic wrap on the worktop, and turn the layer of seaweed and sushi rice upside down flat on the the plastic wrap so that the seaweed ends up on top.
Place the avocado, cucumber and crab sticks evenly down the center, and coat the filling with mayonnaise. Roll the layer up from one edge, and slice the roll into 8 pieces.

How To Make Sushi Rice

To cook sushi rice, it is important to remember that the rice should be cooked with less water than usual, and vinegar added to it while hot. Here is how to cook the perfect sushi rice.

Ingredients
2 cups (450g) Japanese rice
2¾ cups (630ml) water
1.5" x 1" piece dried konbu (seaweed, optional, for umami flavor)
1/2 cup (100 ml) rice wine vinegar
2½ tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation
Wash the rice and cook in water with konbu.
Make the vinegar solution. Put the pan on low heat and heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture.
When cooked, spread the hot rice in a flat-bottomed bowl or glass baking dish (the Japanese use a special wooden bowl called a sushi-oke). Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold swiftly with a spatula. Be careful not to mash the rice—just allow the vinegar mixture to come into contact with all of the grains. Move the spatula as if scooping the rice rather than blending it.
Cool the rice swiftly using a paper fan, and gently turn the rice with the spatula. Fanning the rice prevents it from becoming overly sticky, and also adds luster. Use sushi rice immediately—don’t store it in the refrigerator. Cover it with a damp cloth if you won’t be using it for 10 minutes or more, to prevent it from drying out.

Makes 4-6 servings. SEE OUR REVIEWS OF GOURMET SOY SAUCE