Did you know that Australia produced almost 90,000 tonnes of avocados in 2019-2020? A few months ago, a friend shared a disturbing photo showing huge amounts of avocados left to rot in Far North Queensland because it was too costly to sell them, according to a farmer who's also on Australia's avocado board.
It was a sad sight, I'm sure you will agree, so it's time to up our avocado game and makes the most of the avocados that make it to market. I understand that there are only so much avocado on toast you can eat in one year, but we also need to help our farmers. Given that the fruit is relatively cheap, what better time to diversify our avocado habits than now?
Avocado recipes often involve spreading, dipping or slicing. You can get adventurous with a crumbed and deep-fried version if you are partial to a hot avocado. But you can also eat avocados as a sweet. In fact, my Taiwanese-born mum only ate sweet avocado dishes growing up.
Make the most of plentiful, cheap avocados. Source: coyot via Pixabay
As a child, I enjoyed eating an avocado with a sprinkle of brown sugar. I remember I also used to scoop the creamy, green flesh out of the shell-like ice cream as a snack after school. Our family's avocado dessert was even better – we used to generously drizzle maple syrup or condensed milk on top of the avocado.
NOW'S YOUR CHANCE
Avo tried these 7 avocado desserts?
But we used to take avocados to a whole new level when we turned them into a creamy, frothy and nutty milkshake – a recipe that's loved in parts of Southeast Asia. Much like a frappe or milkshake, the general ingredients for an avocado shake include a ripe avocado, milk and ice – sheer bliss in a cup. You can also add a sweetener like sugar, honey or condensed milk, but you don't need sugar if you want to savour the creamy and nutty flavour of an Australian-grown avocado.
Our family's avocado dessert was even better – we used to generously drizzle maple syrup or condensed milk on top of the avocado.
For Nina ' Teddie' Huynh, a Vietnamese-Australian former fine-dining chef, avocado shakes were the "it" drink before bubble tea took over. "I absolutely love avocado shakes and they remind me so much of my childhood," Huynh says.
"I remember the first time I saw my mum drink an avocado shake and I thought it was disgusting but I grew to love them. Weekends would be spent in Cabramatta with my family drinking cold avocado shakes whilst we finished our grocery shopping."
In Indonesia, you'll often find vendors selling avocado shakes laced with chocolate sauce, and in the Philippines, avocados are a popular dessert ingredient.
For Filipino-Australian-New Zealander chef John Rivera, nothing else compares to a sugary avocado sweet. "I grew up eating avocados as a dessert fruit as opposed to savoury applications." It wasn't until his family moved to New Zealand that he discovered they were also eaten in sandwiches and sushi.
"One of the very first desserts I could remember having was very simple – mum would take very ripe avocados and mash them in a bowl with copious amounts of condensed milk and put it in the freezer so it's nice and cold for an after-dinner treat."
We used to take avocados to a whole new level when we turned them into a creamy, frothy and nutty milkshake.
Growing up in a predominantly Asian part of Melbourne also meant that avocado milkshakes were readily available at other Southeast Asian restaurants in his neighbourhood.
"At our gelato shop, Kariton Sorbetes, we pay homage to avocado milkshakes with a gelato flavour called abukado condensada, an avocado and condensed milk gelato with white chocolate coated puffed grains. It's an absolute cracker, one of our best sellers - we've even got non-Asians now eating avocado as a sweet."
While avocados were not as popular in India in the 1980s, chef Harry Mangat of Biji Dining remembers drinking avocado lassi as an alternative to the ever-so-popular and familiar Indian drink, the mango lassi.
"Avocado is an introduced fruit to India. As a child, I didn't know about avocado but during my teens, I remember having avocado lassi at my friend's house." An avocado lassi features avocado, yoghurt, sugar and salt.
"I love it now but when I first tried it, it took some time getting used to," Mangat says.
Since the rise in popularity, Mangat says Indians now love serving avocados in raita form and chutneys. Even avocado parathas can be found on India's streets.
The below avocado shake recipe is my favourite. Play around with the recipe by adding soy or another milk alternative, and a little more sweetener, if you wish.
Avocado shake
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
- 1 cup ice
- 2 cups milk (unsweetened soy milk, almond or coconut milk works too and I like to mix all three sometimes)
- ½ cup condensed milk or 2 tbsp honey
Method
- Place all ingredients in a blend.
- Mix until combined and smooth.
- Add extra milk if you want a smoother and runnier texture, but I like it thick to slurp with a thick-rimmed straw.
