Avocado Fried Rice

Rice is basically a staple in my diet. I love rice, always have and always will. For some reason, there is always leftover rice. Growing up, there was always rice, and now in our home, there is always rice. There's always the perpetual question of what to do with it. So, what to do with it? Well, you can toss it for one. Which, if it was more than a couple of days I would totally do. (My thoughts on left over food will come another day, but long story short, I'm not a fan). You can eat it plain with some veggies. Toss it with some quinoa. Or you can turn it into fried rice! This traditional Gujurati (a sub-area of India) fried rice dish was one of my favorites growing up. It's pretty simple in the fact that you can add whatever veggies you want, and then just saute it in some cumin and mustard seed. 

I took it up a notch by mashing some avocado in this dish. Avocado is an amazing little fruit. Packed with healthy fats and proteins, its a great addition to any dish. From an Ayurvedic perspective, avocados are great for almost anyone depending on what's going on. They're nice and cooling for the pittas, and super grounding for the vatas. It's also great to help for anyone with dry conditions--great source of healthy oils for the body. If you have a dry or even irritated GI tract, avos are great to help with that as well. 

This dish is super easy to make. Whether you have some rice in the fridge, or you're whipping up a new batch, this really won't take long at all!

PS I absolutely love putting fresh fennel root into this dish. I unfortunately, just didn't have any when I made this. Bon Apetite!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rice cooked
• 3-4 tsp of oil (again, I generally opt for sunflower)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• handful of chopped leeks (plus any other veggies you would like)
• 1 ripe avocado

Directions:

1. Warm the oil in the pan and add cumin and mustard seeds, and cook until they begin to sizzle and pop
2. Add the leeks and really cook them down until they are nice and soft
3. Throw in the rice and coat thoroughly with all the oil and leeks
4. Add the turmeric and chili powder, and again make sure you coat it thoroughly
5. Cut up the avocado and mix it in to the rice. Make sure you really mash the avo completely in to the rice. It may take a while to do this, but don't worry about crushing the rice. Nothing will happen!
6. Serve with some lime pieces and enjoy!

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Saute the leeks until they are nice and soft

I just threw in the avocado whole and then slowly began to mash it in. The turmeric gives the rice a nice yellow colow

Final creation has a subtle green color with the avo but a beautiful yellow still with the turmeric