Green goodness

From toast to chocolates to tacos, avocado is an all-round Aztec wonder, Mexican specialist chef Vikas Seth tells Madhulika Dash

If there is one thing that chefs across the globe love to be caught with is working with their favourite ingredient. For chef Vikas Seth, one of India’s finest Mexican chefs in the country, that ingredient is avocado. “It is love at first sight,” says the culinary wizard while munching his favourite, pickled beetroot avocado open toast on a balmy morning in his UB City outlet in Bengaluru. Not far from his impromptu dining table is another table laden with his favourite Aztec fruit. Every morning Seth, along with his team, gets on to inspect the treasure for doneness. What we are looking for, says Seth, “is something that is like a clay mould. Not too hard yet not too mushy either.”

From Mexico, with love

Chef Vikas Seth

Seth, who as part of their glocal project, began sourcing avocado from nearby farms of Coorg, Ooty and Kodaikanal, is among the few to have turned the food mile equation in their favour. “In the past three years that we have started looking at local vendors, we have been able to cut down our imports by about 15% for this essential Mexican condiment.” Now the figure may not seem a lot but given the sheer number of plates of guacamole this favourite hangout churns in a day — a figure on the happier side of 200 — it is a revolution indeed. For Vikas, however, it is part of making food “cleaner.”

I agree, he confesses, “India isn’t a country known for avocados, and as a chef, I would have any day preferred the ones that come from Mexico City, but our produce is always something you can work around, especially when you know it has lesser mile cover — and comes to you in its prime.”

The ability to source avocados locally, says Seth, who even grows his own avocado “though only for personal experiments” says, “means that you can experiment with it more than just make a dip. Of course, the quality of produce does make a big difference.”

To ensure that he gets the same quality from each of the avocados, the team handpicks the batch and then treats the unripened ones by uncasing them in rice gunny bags. This, says Seth, “is an old technique that is still used in many villages to create naturally ripened food instead of the chemically treated ones — and they taste infinitely better.” There are obviously a few that do not work and are cleverly turned into manure for the little kitchen garden — much like most of their wet garbage.

But for the ones that come out right, says Seth, “there is this brilliant window of creation that this naturally unsweetened fruit throws open.” The first and natural selection is the toast. Inspired from the traditional Mexican style where a tortilla is slathered with avocado and then filled with chicken, refried beans and salsa, Seth’s signature is the avocado slice toast. The trick to making a fantastic one is to first layer it with the buttery avocado paste and then top it with fresh slices, tomatoes, cheese and drizzle with the mint chutney. You can add mini radish slices for crunch and even pickled cucumbers and gerkhins for that interesting crunch.” One trick to make this toast impressive is to use stale sour bread where the crust has already developed the flakiness.

Delightful treats

Another indulgence is gorditas with spiced avocado, says Seth. “Although it is reminiscent of the roti roll that our mom fed us as kids, it can be made of fresh corn tortillas or even pitta bread or naan that has been hot grilled and then stuffing added. I like mine with sriracha-tossed chicken and pickled/fresh avocado slices and a bit of salsa and sour cream. A filling meal, the addition of avocado negates the need for any dips and a perfect mid-meal snack, too. An alternative to this is the pulled chicken tacos with a fresh/grilled avocado on the top. Perfect for the DIY get-together meal.”

Gorditas with spiced avocado

The third in my list is the Mexican ceviche with avocado. “It’s the go-to salad on a busy day and can be quite filling with the salsa adding the creamy contrast to the shrimp dish. In fact, it is perfect for a detox meal after a long period of tasting.”

But among my all-time favourites, the traditional guacamole aside, adds the culinary specialist, “is the fresh strawberries & jalapeno guacamole, which is my take on the famous strawberry and cream treat but with a desi twist; and it works brilliantly in capturing the notes of the strawberry and the creaminess of the avocado; and the other is the dark chocolate guacamole, toasted pepitas, where I use the avocado fat to give the chocolate that creamy texture. And given that avocado doesn’t have its own sweetness, it works brilliantly with any kind of sugar to elevate the dish flavour.” In this case, he uses cinnamon sugar — with the dish served on ragi-styled nachos.”

As for the health factor, says nutritionist Sveta Bhassin, “This pear-shaped fruit is a treasure trove of vitamins, manganese, calcium, folate and vitamins, including Vitamin E and C, but the one reason that this could be a choice of food is the fat content. It is just the right amount needed for the body to digest the necessary nutrients without cholesterol, extra sugar or even calories (an avocado had raw is nearly 50 calories or even less).”