CHUNKY AVOCADO DIP (R, V+, GF, NF, P, CHF, GRF)
The avocado is a bit of a star in the raw vegan world, isn’t it? And it is easy to see why - avocado is so versatile, wonderfully nourishing and utterly delicious. Consequently, it is often used in green vegan smoothies and luscious raw ‘cheese’ cakes. Essentially, what the avocado does to perfection is lend all these desserts a smooth, creamy texture without impacting negatively on their taste.
It’s mind-blowing all that it can do, but my husband says that we’re corrupting the poor avocado; that it was never meant to be hidden in some sweet drink or worse still a raw vegan chocolate mousse. Instead he feels avocado should take centre stage in a savoury dish, the good old fashioned way. (Although ironically, on a recent business trip to Indonesia the locals were appalled when they saw my husband sprinkle salt on his avocado. After much persuasion, they tried it, apprehensively, with a polite smile, before quickly scraping the salt off and reverting back to using their avocado where it belonged – in a sweet smoothie, thank you very much! LOL!)
But I’m with my husband on this one. Though I love raw vegan desserts that use avocado, I think it’s most enjoyable as part of a savoury dish without sugar overpowering its delicate and subtle flavours. I just like to keep any recipe involving avocado super simple, so that the avocado can really shine. Hence why I love this recipe so much and love sharing it with you; it ALWAYS turns out marvellous, it is ALWAYS a big hit at parties and it is ALWAYS so satisfyingly yummy!
CHUNKY AVOCADO DIP (R, V+, P, GF, NF, ChF, GrF)
Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes
Serves: 4-8 as a starter
Ingredients:
5 ripe avocados
14 (organic) cherry tomatoes, washed and quartered
1 ½ tsp salt (or a little less if you are eating this with salted tortilla chips)
Juice of ½ lime
15gr parsley, washed and finely chopped
Pepper to taste
Instructions:
Place the flesh of the avocados, together with the salt in a large bowl and roughly mash with a fork until it’s all nicely combined but there are still visible chunks of avocado here and there. Then wash the ripe cherry tomatoes and cut each one into 4. Combine with the chunky avocados and then place the mixture in the bowl in which you wish to serve the dip. Next wash and finely chop the parsley (I tend not to use the bottom part of the parsley i.e. the stem, but it’s a personal choice) and scatter over the dip. Finish everything off with the lime juice and a tiny bit of pepper to taste. Enjoy on a hot summer’s day!
Tip 1: You can also use fresh coriander instead of parsley or a mixture of both.
Tip 2: Use 2-3 ripe, normal sized tomatoes if you don’t have cherry tomatoes to hand
Eat with… if my husband and I are having this as a meal we will probably only make half the amount and eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner on a slice of dark brown rye bread. At a party we tend to serve the dip with organic tortilla chips or raw carrot and cucumber sticks.