
The other week, I had the pleasure of attending such a fun and inspiring foodie event, at the HelloFresh HQ in London. If you’re not familiar with HelloFresh, it´s essentially a meal delivery service – offering only the freshest ingredients, with healthy recipes to follow, straight to your doorstep (pretty simple – but so genius). The event I attended was a super fun Spice Cooking class – where I had the pleasure of meeting with Patrick Drake, the co-founder of HelloFresh, as well as Sabrina Ghayour, the renowned British-Iranian Chef, food writer and author…
I have always been pretty good and adventurous with spice – or so I thought, before I attended this cooking class! Sabrina was sharing so many fun and inspiring ways to cook with spice, adding it to somewhat unconventional meals and food combinations. I mean, to say I was inspired to get back into my kitchen, would be an understatement. I love cooking; my ultimate down-time and happy place, is standing in the kitchen and concocting my meals freely. That´s not to say they have to be anything overly fancy or complicated (although sometimes they are); for me, it´s all about creating, testing and having fun. Not taking it too seriously.
One thing that really inspired me at the cooking class – was the idea of adding spice to first thing in the morning. Adding it to your breakfast routine is not only super tasty and energising; research has also shown that chilli, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne and turmeric are some of the best spices to kick start your metabolism! So in my opinion, why would one not add some spice to your morning routine?
Naturally, I was pretty curious to hear which particular breakfast spice Sabrina can´t live without, along with some of her go-to dishes…
“I love chilli – whether fresh, flakes or in sauce form. I’m a big toast lover and my favourite toppings usually involve chilli butter and honey with a little cinnamon or avocado, feta and Sriracha sauce with Nigella seeds. For a cooked breakfast, I love spiced duck egg scramble with chilli, fresh herbs, cumin, coriander seeds, garlic and feta. Or spiced potato Röstis packed full of flavour from the spice rack and topped with a poached egg.”
I mean, this all sounds super delicious! And although I love nothing more then sitting down with a gorgeous cook book, trawling Pinterest and Instagram for recipe ideas – I have always loved to make any dish my own. So taking some inspiration from Sabrina´s ideas, I have fused my own version of a delicious and spicy breakfast meal… Hope you love it as much as I do.
SPICY AVOCADO TOAST WITH CURRIED CHICKPEAS, POACHED EGG & ROCKET
INGREDIENTS
For 1 Person
1 ripe avocado / 2 cups of chickpeas (pre cooked) / 1/2 lemon / 1 handful of rocket / 1 egg / 2 slices of wholegrain, rye or sourdough bread / 2 tbsp Olive oil / 1 tsp ground cumin / 1 tsp of ground coriander / 1/2 tsp chilli flakes / 2 tsp paprika / seasoned with salt & pepper
DIRECTIONS
1. Rinse the chickpeas in a colander, drain them well.
2. Warm up a pan with olive oil, pop the spices in and mix for a few minutes (by heating up the spice in the pan, it releases the taste of the spice).
3. Pop the chickpeas in the pan and lightly fry for 5-10 minutes, until nice and golden. Take off the heat and set aside.
4. Scoop out the avocado in a bowl, roughly mash with a fork and season with the lemon juice, ground pepper, sea salt and chilli flakes.
5. Boil up some water and poach the egg gently for a few minutes.
6. While you’re poaching your egg, start toasting the two slices of toast.
7. Once the toast is ready, spread out the avocado and a handful of rocket on top. Pour the chickpeas over, and place the egg in the middle. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and some chilli flakes for extra spice.
Enjoy!
Created in collaboration with HelloFresh. All words, opinions, styling & creative direction are, as always, my own.