Eggplant avocado salsa

I love salsas. The other time I visited the market I bought some ripe avocados. In my fridge, one eggplant was sitting for some time. I had initially planned to roast it. However, after getting the avocado, I decided to make a salsa adding the roasted eggplant in it. Not a big fan of raw onion and garlic, I decided to fry them a little. It was fresh and vibrant. The saltiness of the roasted eggplants well complemented the buttery avocados, and the hint of tart from tomato was just perfect to cut through the richness of other flavors.

You can print the recipe for your kitchen here: PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

(Serves 2)

1 medium sized eggplant

1 large tomato

1 avocado

2-3 cloves garlic

1 onion

1/3cup chopped parsley

Juice of ½ lemon

1 dried red chili

2 Serrano chilies

1tbsp sugar

Salt

METHOD:

1.      Smear the whole eggplant with 1sp oil and put it on a heated pan. Roast it uniformly on slow heat turning it occasionally.

2.      Dice the avocado and tomato.

3.      Finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat 1sp of oil and fry the onion garlic until golden.

4.      Finely slice the Serrano chilies and crush the dried red chili.

5.      When the eggplant is roasted, let it sit for 30 minutes. Peel away the burnt skin and chop the eggplant roughly into cubes.

6.      In a bowl, add together roasted eggplant and all other ingredients. Season well. Mix everything with a gentle hand.

7.      Refrigerate it for an hour before serving. 

Classic Tomato Salsa

I love classic tomato salsa. It is tangy and fresh. Though I don’t like raw onion so much, the fresh tomatoes with the lime juice is yummy! I like it with tortillas, chips, simply like a dip. It is so easy to make and so refreshingly tasty.

INGREDIENTS:

4 big tomatoes
1 large white onion
1 large bunch of cilantro
1 lemon juice
¼ sp sugar
3-4 chilies (Serrano chilies if available)
Salt

METHOD:

1. Chop the tomatoes into small cubes.
2. Chop the onion also into cubes.
3. Roast the chilies.
4. Deseed the roasted chilies and chop finely.
5. Mix everything together with lemon juice, salt, sugar, and lemon zest.
6. Add chopped cilantro.
7. Mix and set aside in the fridge for cooling.
8. Serve cold.

Chicken Fajita

It is a rainy day today, and good time for eating chicken fajita with tortillas. Moreover, I was eating it after a long time. I like Mexican food. And this is just so easy, quick and tasty dish. I also like the accompanying salsa sauce. The tangy and fresh taste of tomato and lemon is refreshing and appetizing. To me fajita is interesting because of its freshness. It is juicy with the pepper giving it certain kind of crunchiness. I used bought tortillas and guacamole sauce today; however, I plan to make the latter soon, when I get some good avocados. Thus I enjoyed my Sunday lunch with the fajita and tortilla, and though there wasn’t any sour cream, it was still good..
I had originally got the recipe from some Mexican cookbook and used that with some little modifications.

INGREDIENTS:

800gm chicken breast
1 lime
½ sp sugar
2 tbsp oregano
1tbsp cayenne pepper
1sp chili flakes
½ sp ground pepper
2 onions
3 bell peppers
Salt
Oil

METHOD:

1. Pat the chicken breasts dry with a kitchen cloth and cut into thin strips.
2. Add into it lime juice and zest, sugar, oregano, cayenne pepper, chili flakes, salt, pepper. Mix thoroughly and marinate for around half hour.
3. In meantime, cut pepper into thin strips.
4. Finely slice the onion.
5. In a pan, heat oil.
6. Stir fry the chicken until it starts getting the golden color.
7. Add the onion and pepper.
8. Cook on high heat until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are soft but still crunchy and juicy.
9. Check the seasoning and add more salt if required.
10. Serve hot with tortillas, salsa sauce, guacamole sauce and sour cream.

NOTE:
If the vegetables leave water while cooking, cook until water dries.
One can increase the amount of cayenne pepper or chili flakes according to desired amount of spiciness.