I found this easy recipe for a healthy breakfast and couldn’t help but be amazed at the simplicity. I’ve been trying to include healthy fats in my meals and every responsible literature I’ve read about healthy fats points to avocados and eggs. Now this buttery gorgeous green fruit is not native to India and is not available locally or from the next door “bhaajiwala”. You have to buy it online from say a BigBasket, or from a high-end gourmet store or even a Nature’s basket. But even so, a single avocado can cost upwards of Rs 150. Now avocados are a risk because sometimes you really don’t know how big the seed inside is. It’s a gamble and 150 bucks is too big a risk for a single meal.
Photo by Gnana Prakash on Unsplash
Enter Indian avocados. They don’t have the characteristic oval shape that we’re so used to seeing in the media and neither does the skin have the lovely pebbled texture that is so Gram-worthy. The avocados I have been able to score in Mumbai are spherical and with a slightly pitted skin. Sometimes the skin is smooth and shiny. The flesh inside is creamy, buttery and quite green toward the skin. Cutting into it when it’s just ripe is the tricky part. Since it’s not a fruit we’ve grown up on, learning its behaviour takes some time. It’s not like bananas, where we just know when it’s past its prime and perfect for fritters. Or an orange that gives just too easily. You know that the carpels are going to be mushy and the flesh tart and acidic. One of the avocados over ripened and the inside has these fibres that looked quite unappetizing. A quick Google search revealed the fruit was quite ok to eat and that the fibres didn’t mean the avocado had spoiled. But I just could not get the fibres out of the flesh and I ended up throwing it.
Coming back to the healthy breakfast idea I stumbled upon. I’ve been looking for something different for breakfast. What we as Indians eat for breakfast is DELICIOUS and wholesome and satisfying! Piping hot poha with a spritz of lime and freshly chopped coriander, topped with jiravan, Upma with a little sprinkle of sugar, golden brown Atta Halwa, Idli Sambar, Dosa with Molgapodi, Paratha and eggs, Bhurji pav, Misal Pav… the list is endless. You could eat something new all 365 days of the year and you still wouldn’t make a dent in the variety India has to offer.
This recipe is nowhere near Indian and I do not see it being served in local restaurants, but it’s worth a try. It’s simple, it’s filling and it looks gorgeous.
So here goes.
You will need
- 1 avocado
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of chopped tomatoes
- 2 Tablespoons of spring onions
- 1 tablespoon of spring onion greens
- 1 cube of cheese (chopped) OR 2 Tablespoons of shredded cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chopped coriander to taste (optional)
Steps
- Halve the avocado and remove the seed.
- Crack the egg and empty it into the hollow of the avocado.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper
- Place it in a baking dish and bake it for 7 minutes at 250 degrees C
- After 7 minutes sprinkle the cheese, onion and tomato on the egg and avocado.
- Check the doneness of the egg and according to preference keep it for about 3-5 more minutes so the cheese melts and the tomatoes soften.
- Once done carefully remove it from the baking dish and transfer to a plate.
- Add some chopped coriander and it’s done!
Things to remember
- Remove the seeds and pulp of the tomatoes so the dish doesn’t get soggy.
- If you think the egg will overflow when you pour it into the avocado, crack it open in a bowl and then slowly pour it in. Alternatively, scoop out a bit of the avocado to make space for the egg.
- Ideally bring the egg to room temperature to make pouring easier.
- You know your oven best. So play around a bit with the temperature to see what suits you. I made the mistake of keeping the heat too low so it took a bit longer to cook and the cheese on the top burned a bit.
Tips
Use a small glass bowl to bake the avocado so it doesn’t tip over.
Don’t use a fully ripened avocado, it might become mushy when baked.
If you have a little egg white left over after pouring it into the avocado, scramble it and top off the final baked dish with it.
Add some coarsely ground pepper for a bit of a punch.
If you like a little spice, chop up a small green chilly and put it in the avocado before pouring the egg.
If you don’t like the heat from green chillies, sprinkle red chilli powder on the egg before baking.
