Colette Dike - The Ultimate Avocado Cookbook

This cookbook will give you some insight into my life, which is dominated by cooking, eating, styling, Instagram, and lots of avocados. I was just twelve years old when I created my first little black book filled with recipes. Eating and styling have since remained a passion of mine, resulting in Fooddeco, an Instagram account and daily blog where I share the most delicious recipes.

Fooddeco is a love story between good food and food styling. A way to let people see that food can look beautiful, without having to put in too much effort.

I find inspiration in everything around me, in the smallest details. My friends are happy when I present them with a new dish, and their enthusiastic responses continue to inspire me again and again. I often take well-known recipes and present them with a twist. I use avocados in a lot of recipes such as my breakfast pizza, sushicado, or golden green avocado fries because they are healthy, taste good, and beautiful to look at. You can present this green fruit in a number of ways: from avocado ribbons to avocado roses or avocado polka dots.

Have you fallen in love with avocado like I have? Then be sure to follow and share your creations using this special fruit with me on Instagram using the hashtag #fooddecoavocado.

Love X Colette

I AM COOKING | I AM EATING | I AM SHOPPING | I AM STYLING | I AM AVOCADO | I AM FOODDECO

This book is for the real avocado fan who is searching for new and original recipes. Most recipes in this book are healthy and vegetarian, and some are vegan. You can make savory or sweet snacks with avocado, like avocado fries or avocado brownies. Aside from being absurdly delicious, avocados are also very photogenic. This bright green fruit allows you to effortlessly make an eye-catching dish.

The avocado is a fruit from an avocado tree, primarily found in South and Central America. The fruits dont start growing until the tree has been planted for five years, but once they grow, they grow in abundance: between 150 and 500 fruits at once. Theyre available all year round and because of the avocados uneven skin and pear-like shape it is often referred to as the crocodile pear. Because of its enormous popularity in Mexico, it is referred to as oro verde, or green gold.

In the supermarket you will often see people, one after the other, squeezing avocados in the aisle. This is unfortunate, as squeezing bruises the avocados, causing them to turn brown and ripen quickly. You should treat your avocados as carefully as you would an egg.

A good way to tell if an avocado is ripe is to remove the remainder of the stem. If you see a clear green color underneath, this means youve got a winner. If the color is brown or green with spots, the avocado is likely overripe or spoiled. If you can hardly remove the stem, the avocado is definitely not ripe enough. If you want your avocados to ripen quicker, you should leave them in your fruit bowl between the bananas and the apples. Want to keep the avocado you cut in half? Leave the pit in and sprinkle the flesh with some lemon juice or leave the avocado in good company with a peeled onion. This helps the avocado hold its taste and beautiful color. If you want your avocado to ripen less quickly, keep it in the fridge.

A ripe avocado has a creamy texture and a light nutty flavor. Because of this, it is a good replacement for meals made with butter, mayonnaise, cream, or milk or for people who have cows-milk allergies. Avocados contain a high percentage of unsaturated, good fats (omega 3), which can positively affect your cholesterol levels. They are also packed with vitamin B, iron, potassium, and protein. These great attributes make avocados an affordable superfood.

In this cookbook you will find meals in which avocados play the lead or an important supporting role. In any role, the avocado is the hero of the dish.

Fooddecoavocado with breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner, and even in snacks, desserts, toppings, salads, sushi, pizza, tarts, sauces, and dips.

FooddecoFlavorites

Youll notice that aside from avocado, I use a lot of other ingredients in abundance. As a flavoring, sushi vinegar takes the number one spot. It is a combination of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. This vinegar is available in any Asian supermarket and in some local supermarkets. Sushi vinegar is usually used to flavor the rice in sushi, but I use it to create dressings and sauces. In addition, there are other flavorings and staple ingredients that often appear in this book, and so, here is an overview. If you have these at home, youll always be able to make a tasty treat.

IN THE PANTRY:

Olive oil, coconut oil, sushi vinegar, light soy sauce, siracha (spicy chili sauce), yellow curry paste, tahini, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, nuts, dates, cocoa powder, almond flour, panko bread crumbs, quinoa (preferably black or tricolor), sesame seeds (white and black), chili flakes, salt and pepper, tortillas, sesame oil, dried rose petals.

IN YOUR FRIDGE:

Feta cheese, eggs

IN YOUR FREEZER:

Phyllo pastry, frozen fruit

IN YOUR PANTRY:

Avocado, sprouts/watercress (sprout vegetables, can be replaced with alfalfa), bananas, limes, brown sourdough or spelt bread, protein (meat, fish, or chicken)

FOODDECO MUST-HAVES:

It all starts with ingredients and a little bit of creativity, and youll also need the right kitchen aids.

MY ESSENTIALS:

Sharp knives (Japanese), vegetable slicer, melon baller, straws (preferably wide), frying pan, grill pan with deep grooves (for nice grill marks), blender, food processor, cheese slicer, spatula

Always mash your avocado with a fork to maintain a coarser texture with a bit of a bite. This especially makes savory dishes taste much better. In sweet recipes, be sure to pure your avocado with a blender or in a food processor.

The beautiful color and structure of avocados enable you to make beautiful things. They are perfect for a romantic breakfast, bar snack, or a dinner at home.

Discover how to make an avocado rose, avocado ribbons, mini avocado roses, avocado polka dots, and mini avocado polka dots. For this you will need to use a ripe, but not too soft, firm avocado. Unripe avocados are not flexible enough and also do not taste as good. In addition to this, it is also important to use a sharp knife, a good peeler, and sushi vinegar. The sushi vinegar ensures the avocado stays nice and green, enhances flavor, and gives the avocado a smooth finish.

ESSENTIAL: (JAPANESE) PEELER

Avocado ribbons came into existence on a summer Sunday afternoon when I wanted to have an avocado sandwich but with a twist. I had never seen it done before but in my household and online it was a huge success.