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.jpg "Quinoa Crusted Avocado Fritters")
photo courtesy of the California Avocado Commission
This recipe actually requires a moment of silence.
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{moment}
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These fritters are that good. Ridiculously, insanely, deliciously, marvelously, wonderfully yummy
These were one of the first treats served Friday night at the Food Workshop hosted by the California Avocado Commission at EVO.
.jpg "EVO Avocado pyramid at Workshop (blog)")
In case y’all aren’t aware, Friday night was the night of the power failure.
Also known as the night of no tech and a whole lot of amazing conversations, glow sticks, glow stick dancing and fun.
On Friday night, we who were lucky enough to RSVP quickly enough, braved the power outage and rode the Gondola up the mountain to The Lookout Cabin (some of us got stuck for a bit when the generators flickered out.. ADVENTURE… y’all!
Power failure? No big deal.. the ‘show’ must go on.
.jpg "Sunflowers backlit in a mason jar")
When those fritters were served with the Aji Amarillo Aioli.. there were sharp intakes of breath, silence and moans of enjoyment.
It would never have occurred to me to use quinoa to create anything like this, I’m so inspired after this workshop to play around more with avocados and different ingredients to create unusual and delicious, yet simple dishes.
These Crunchy Avocado Stuffed Quinoa Fritters were created for the California Avocado Commission by Top Chef Masters Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger
.jpg "EVO too hot tamales")
I posted an instagram pic of my plate after I’d eaten one fritter, with the title:
Holy sweet mother of tonguegasms @ca_avocados. Avocado quinoa fritters at #evoconf
The response was huge.
Thankfully, the California Avocado Commission is extremely generous and shared all the recipes from that night with us, and in turn I’m sharing them with y’all.
Food this good, should be shared.
Toasted Quinoa Fritters with cotija cheese, herbs and filled with avocado, served with a delicious Aji Amarillo Aioli. Recipe Courtesy of The California Avocado Commission and the Too Hot Tamales
Ingredients
- 2/3 C white or black quinoa, rinsed and well drained
- 1 1/3 C water
- 1/4 C all purpose flour
- 1/4 C grated cotija cheese
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 4 green onions, white and light green parts only, finely chopped
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 3/4 C canola or grape seed oil, for frying
- 1 ripe, fresh California avocado, seeded, peeled and cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch dice
- salt, to taste
- ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place a small, dry saucepan over heat. Add quinoa and toast for roughly 5 minutes, shaking and stirring constantly so the quinoa doesn't scorch. Transfer to a large saucepan and add water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, flour, cheese and salt. Add onions, parsley, egg and yolk. Stir thoroughly with a spoon until the mixture has the consistency of soft dough. Chill the dough for 30 minutes
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- In a small mixing bowl, season avocado with salt and pepper to taste and toss gently to coat.
- Using your hands, shape the quinoa into fritters about the size of a walnut (in shell) around a center made of avocado.
- Working in batches, gently slide the fritters into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes, turning as necessary. Drain on paper towels and serve warm.
Aji Amarillo Recipe Courtesy of the California Avocado Commissionand the Too Hot Tamales.
Ingredients
- 1 C mayonnaise
- 1 medium lime, juiced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp. [aji amarillo chile paste|Aji Amarillo Chile Paste
- ]
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped Parsley
- 1 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley
Instructions
- Combine ingredients into a small bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Refrigerate until ready to use.
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37 comments
holy smokes, this dish was SO good. that entire meal was SO SO good
I pretty much jumped up and down with delight when I saw that we got the recipes in our goody bag!
That dish was out of control good
I have a darlin’ pic of you takin’ pics of the avocados. I put it on FB, did you see?
Miss you already, sweetheart.
I am still trying to make myself like quinoa. I adore avocados and anything fried, so maybe this recipe will finally do the trick!
Emily,
If I hadn’t told you these were made from Quinoa, you wouldn’t know… these are absolutely mouthwateringly amazingly good.
yes! i saw the pic
thank you, love it! miss you too! i need more of you girls in my life.
Wow, that looks so good!!! I need these in my life!
Thanks for sharing the recipes! I am sad I didn’t make it up the lift, but I was too scared:) I LOVED meeting you at EVO. It was for sure a highlight! You are amazing and I am honored to call you a friend! Stay in touch and come visit us again…and soon! xoxo
oh.my.goodness. i think i may just die of happiness when i make these at home!
Wow…. Just the name of it was enough to start me drooling. I am SO making these soon. I bet they’d go great with my goat cheese and tapenade crostini I just made. It’s the fun appetizer party, no?
All I need is quinoa and the chili paste and I could put this together this weekend. My avo’s should be ripe by then. I am fairly certain that short of ordering the paste online it will be impossible or very labor intensive to search Orlando for it. Can you describe it as far taste? could I sub Sriracha? I don’t want to ruin the aioli.
It sounds like a good time was had by all. Power outages, gondolas, food, jumping and friends…what else do you need?
Hey darlin’!
You really do need these in your life! They are delish!
Meeting you and getting to spend time with you was for real a highlight of my trip! You are even more lovely and sweet in person.
I’ll share all the recipes from the WS with you
and I don’t think your nerves would have loved the cold, windy STOPPED Gondola 
xo
I’d love to visit again soon, or have you to Texas
Heather, you HAVE to make these and then come back and tell me all about them!
Michelle, these things are amazing. Seriously.. a room full of women went silent
LOL Oh my gosh, those crostini sound delicious!!!
I’m seriously envious that you have Avocados! Can you find chipotles in adobo? I think that would be closer to taste than sriracha. It was such a wonderful time!
Let me know if you make them.
lawd have mercy girl!! THIS looks crazy good – will definitely be making this one; and seriously, how cool for power outage, glow sticks, dancing and ADVENTURE!!!
wow that looks AMAZING!
The things I heard about these alone made me sad I didn’t go to this. But now I’m so glad I can try them. They sound amazing!!
Yummmm! I love this time of the year! Avocados are plentiful and delicious!
Thanks for the feed back, chipotles in adobo? no problem.
My Avo’s came from Publix they are on sale this week. I wish I had a tree. My neighbor behind me has a huge one. It has never bared fruit. There needs to be another tree close by so they can cross pollinate. (Those kinky trees) Florida avo’s are good and large but I prefer the small California Hass.
I intend to make these on Saturday. I will let you know how they turn out.
I want to try this sooooo bad but I have to have it Gluten Free. Any suggestions anyone? I’m a good cook but don’t know my way around GF flours for these things. HELP please.
I can’t wait to hear. That’s why I don’t have any fruit bearing trees either
Hi friend!!! The Adventure was AWESOME
You MUST make these, they are crazy insane good.
Hey beautiful! I’m SO SO SO happy that we met! You are a bundle of sunshine and adorable! You absolutely HAVE to make these!
MWAH! Avocados win!
Cori, I’ve tweeted and asked a few others for help, I’m not GF familiar… hopefully we’ll have an answer soon!
Hey Cori
@AmyJBennet said: “should be able to just sub the flour for all purpose gluten free flour”
Thank you for your inquiries. I have been GF for almost a year but hesitate when it comes to using GF flour as a binder or frying. I will definitely give this a try. I’m really excited about it and am a So. Cal Girl and Avocados are in, so the time is NOW!
Several other followers suggested: Almond Flour, which would complement the quinoa… brown rice flour…. and all purpose gluten free flour mix
Good luck! Please let me come back and know.. I can add that in the notes of the recipe for other GF readers!
I’m pretty sure I inhaled both of mine before you even got your phone out. Then when you were taking that picture I was tempted to steal the last one off your plate. Yeah, them things were mighty tasty. So glad we could share that moment together!
I like eating avocado. I often drink avocado shake but I haven’t try this one. Since I am not a good chef and I will share this one to my friend who love to cook new recipes. I am sure she will consider making this one.
That was one of the funnest workshops ever and the power outage just added to the fun! Wish I could have meet ya.
<3 I miss you already
But I still would have smacked your hand with the nearest utensil if you'd taken my last fritter :-)
It was soo much fun, Megan! I swear, I think if the power had been on we would have met
Can’t these be baked? I am anti deep frying food at home. Has anyone tried baking these. This sounds so good but it takes away from the nutritional value if I were to fry it and try convincing my family that it was healthy.
Thanks for the step by step process of creating this recipe. I love try this recipe. It seems very unique recipe. I haven’t created recipe with avocado. This is interesting.
Looks light, healthy and delicious. Love it!