[247 kcal] Avocado Toast Three Ways

[2024 Jun 02: Updated prices and links.]

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Nutrition Facts

Calories	247 kcal
Total Fat	12.8 grams
Sodium	312.5 grams
Total Carbohydrate	19.3 grams
- Dietary Fiber	5.8 grams
Protein	16.2 grams

Ingredients and Price List

Food	Amount Used	Unit Cost (SGD)	Cost Per Use (SGD)
Mini French Baguette	3 slices (~7 grams each)	$1.00 (Bought from a local bakery store)	$0.30
Avocado	1/2 avocado	$2.90	$1.45
Canned Tuna Mayonaise Spread	20 grams (1/8 can)	$3.28	$0.41
Cherry Tomato	2 tomatoes	$3.30	$0.35
​Chicken Egg	2 eggs	$3.20	$0.64
Lemon	1 slice	$0.80	Negligible
Garlic	1 clove	$1.80	Negligible
Olive Oil	Enough to cook Sunny Side-Up	​$10.60	Negligible
Salt	A pinch	$0.81	​Negligible
Black Pepper	A pinch	$3.50	​Negligible
	SUBTOTAL:	$31.19	~$3.15

Truth be told: I never liked avocados, especially on its own. I get that it's healthy - that is the main reason why I even bother trying - but it's so bland! However, I'm excited to share that I found my favourite way of eating avocados: mashed avocado with garlic, salt, and a bit of lemon juice. In this post, I will give a brief introduction on avocado, and three ways of eating avocado on toast:

1. Sliced Avocado on Toast with Poached Egg

2. Tuna Spread on Toast with Diced Avocado and Cherry Tomato

3. Mashed Garlicky Avocado on Toast with Sunny Side-Up

But first, let's talk about avocados.

Avocado is a type of berry.

I briefly talked about drupes in my last post featuring a Peach Banana Oatmeal Bowl. Now, we're learning that avocados are not scientifically classified as drupes but berries.

Simply put, the seeds of drupes have a hard endocarp/outer shell. Meanwhile, the seeds of berries have a fleshy endocarp/outer shell. Even though berries such as pepper or tomato tend to have many seeds, and avocados clearly only have one seed, but due to the fleshy endocarp, avocados are classified as berries.

Ripe avocados are dark green/almost black and yield to pressure when squeezed.

Before going to the supermarket to purchase an avocado, you've got to do some homework and research how to select the best avocados first. If you are planning to use an avocado immediately after purchase, select a ripe avocado with dark green/almost black skin, give it a little squeeze and it should yield to pressure (don't press too hard, though - and try not to squeeze too many avocados when you only want to purchase one or two as that's not very nice for the next customer).

Another pointer to know if an avocado is ripe is to peel off the little tip from the top of the avocado. You can watch the YouTube video below about this hint. (However, since this involves peeling off a part of the avocado, I'd suggest only doing this after you've purchased the avocados and do this back home. Let's not go and peel off avocado tips in the supermarkets without purchasing, yeah?)

If it peels off easily, and you see that the bottom of the tip is green, then it's ripe and ready to eat. If it's tough to peel off, the avocado may be unripe - you should probably leave it on the kitchen counter for a few more days. If it peels off easily, and yet the bottom of the tip is brown, it is overripe. Not to worry - overripe avocados are the best kind of avocados for mashing purposes.

Avocado is a great source of healthy fats.

A balanced diet includes an adequate portion of good fats. To be healthy, the goal isn't to cut down fats - we need fats as they provide us energy, protect our organs, support cell growth, keeps cholesterol and blood pressure under control, and help our body absorb vital nutrients.

What we should aim to cut down is saturated fat - the so-called "bad" kind of fat. It is primarily found in animal products and processed foods. On the other hand, we should consume a healthy amount of "good" fat, which is unsaturated fat. There are two kinds of unsaturated fat: monounsaturated fat (found in avocados, nuts, seeds, plant oils, etc.) and polyunsaturated fat (found in plant-based oils, nuts, fishes, etc.).

Consuming a high amount of saturated fat produces more LDL cholesterol, which is bad for our bodies and can increase the risks of heart attack and stroke. Meanwhile, unsaturated fat raises more HDL cholesterol, which is good for our bodies as they pick up excess LDL in the blood and move it to the liver, where it is broken down and discarded.

Plus, with a high amount of (good) fat and dietary fiber, eating avocados make us feel fuller because fat and fiber slow the release of food from our stomach. Hence, even though this meal only contains 247 kcal - considerably lower than all my other meal ideas - I felt just as full and satisfied after having this meal.

Healthy fat is just one of the health benefits you get from avocados - here is a list of potential health benefits by eating avocados.

There are many ways to serve avocado.

You can cut it into halves and serve it as a fruit on its own. You can slice it to spread it out beautifully on a piece of toast. You can dice it/cut it into cubes, add some diced tomatoes, onions and other condiments and make it into an avocado salsa. You can mash it, add some lime juice and other condiments and turn it into guacamole. Following is a YouTube video I've watched to learn how to cut an avocado.

Another thing I was pleasantly surprised about this dish was that I successfully cooked a poached egg and a Sunny Side Up! I was overjoy, especially for the poached egg, because I've only successfully made a poached egg once in my life.

Now let's introduce three ways of eating avocado on toast.

Sliced Avocado on Toast with Poached Egg

1. Spread some butter (optional) on a slice of mini french baguette and toast it using a pan or toaster.

2. Cut avocado into slices.

3. Spread the avocado slices on the toast.

4. Make a poached egg.

5. Put the poached egg on the avocado slices.

6. Sprinkle with some salt and black pepper.

As I do not have any videos or pictures of making poached egg while preparing this meal, I've decided to leave the steps of cooking a poached egg to a future post. Keep an eye out for that!

Tuna Spread on Toast with Diced Avocado and Cherry Tomato

1. Spread some butter (optional) on a slice of mini french baguette and toast it using a pan or toaster.

2. Cut avocado into small cubes.

3. Cut cherry tomatoes into halves.

4. Spread some tuna mayonnaise spread on the toast.

5. Put the diced avocado and halved cherry tomatoes on the tuna spread.

Ah yes, my guilty pleasure, tuna mayonnaise spread (as mentioned in the Chicken Club Sandwich and Honey Strawberry Salad post). Can't go wrong with that.

Mashed Garlicky Avocado on Toast with Sunny Side Up

1. Spread some butter (optional) on a slice of mini french baguette and toast it using a pan or toaster.

2. Mince a clove of garlic.

3. Prepare a slice of lemon and put aside.

4. Mash avocado into a paste.

5. Mix garlic into the avocado paste, add a sprinkle of salt, and squeeze the lemon's juice into the mixture.

6. Spread the garlicky avocado paste on the toast.

7. Make a sunny side up.

8. Put the sunny side up on the avocado spread.

9. Sprinkle with some salt and black pepper.

And THIS is the champion - my current favourite way of eating avocado. The garlic, salt and lemon add in so much more flavour into the plain avocado - topped with a gently fried egg with runny yolk, and it is just perfect.

As we are still in the midst of Lunar New Year 2023, I hereby wish you Gong Xi Fa Cai! :)