South Africa, if ever there was a time to come together as friends and family (less than 10 of your besties, please) and celebrate our heritage as a colourful, resilient, determined nation, it is this Heritage Day. And what better way to do that than with a braai boasting the best in homegrown goodness – we mean South African avos, of course!
No self-respecting Mzansi braai is complete without a salad or three, and this Heritage Day our avos are ripe and ready – so go on add an avo to your salads.
So fire up those coals and throw the braai of all braais to celebrate your South African heritage. Don’t forget to add a pinch of family and friends, a dollop of gratitude, and a really good sprinkling of homegrown avo goodness.
Avocado, naartjie (or clementines) and caramelised pecan nut salad, with poppy seed dressing
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Serves 6
Salad ingredients:
• 6 ripe avocados, peeled & sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 naartjies, broken into segments or sliced
• 1 orange, cut into segments
• 100g caramelised pecan nuts
• Micro
• herbs to garnish
Dressing ingredients:
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• ¼ cup poppy seeds
Method:
1. Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a screw top bottle and shake to combine.
2. In a small bowl marinate the red onion slices for 5-10 minutes in the dressing.
3. Arrange the avocado on a platter, with the naartjies, orange segments and pecan nuts. Pour the dressing and marinated onions over the salad.
4. Serve immediately.
South African avo bean and samp salad with tequila vinaigrette
Serves 10 -12
Ingredients
• 2 cups cooked samp
• 1 can green beans, or fresh beans blanched
• 1 can kidney beans drained
• 1 can black beans drained
• 1 can butter beans, drained
• 5 celery stalks, diced
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 red or yellow peppers, finely chopped
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 bunch chives, finely chopped
• 2 avocados, peeled and stoned
• 5 avocados, halved and pips removed (do not peel)
Ingredients for the dressing
• ½ cup avo oil (or olive oil)
• Juice and zest of 2 limes
• 2 tots/60 ml tequila
• 15 ml red wine vinegar
Method
1. In a large bowl, combine the samp, all the beans, peppers celery, onion, parsley, and chives.
2. For the vinaigrette, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and toss. Scoop salad into avocado halves.
4. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve at room temperature.
For further information and avo recipes, visit www.avocado.co.za, like @iloveavocadoSA.co.za on Facebook and follow @iloveavossa on Instagram.
