EAT IN ASIA / Destinations / Other destinations / Europe / Montenegro
Vegan green avocado and nuts salad (with recipe)
How is Montenegrin cuisine like?
Although Montenegro is beautiful, has wonderful landscapes, a lot of old cities, fortresses, and archeological sites, it is not the best country for all vegans and vegetarians. Montenegrin cuisine is full of meat and meat products (as it is in other countries in this region - Romania, Croatia and Hungary). Sausages, ham, cheese, butter, cream, and meat fat is almost in every meal. Of course, not all of them at once, but at least one of them will be added to the dish. Apart from that, fish and seafood create an important part in the coastal cuisine. Moules, prawns (here is more information about Montenegrin seafood salad), squids, octopus, and different fish are quite popular and served especially during the warmest season. These meals are refreshing, sprinkled with lemon juice, vinegar, and oil.
Vegan and vegetarian options in Montenegro
However, it is still probably not what you are looking for if you want to follow a vegan or vegetarian diet.
But sometimes you are lucky, and you manage to get a refreshing meal with ingredients packed with valuable and nutritional elements. One of such a meal is a green avocado and nuts salad. It is relatively light but at the same time it is giving you a good portion of healthy fats, proteins, and carbs. It is not only something that looks nicely but also tastes greatly. The composition of textures and flavors, makes you want to eat more and more of it. Crunchy nuts and seeds, a soft flesh of avocado, aromatic tomatoes and cucumber will fool you.
Although it might seem to be a simple composition of ingredients, it is so tasty! You must try it. Remember also that it has an enormous set of nutrients, important minerals, and vitamins. If it was not enough to convince you, check the list of superfoods! Nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil and spinach. All so healthy and bringing you a good serving of everything your organism needs.
It was a sunny day. We started our sightseeing early in the morning after having a local breakfast. Although this Montenegrin first meal was rich and did full us for a good couple of hours, long walks made us hungry at the lunch time. However, we did not want to have anything really heavy and overloaded with meat. Ideal would be something light and refreshing. And that was when we found a restaurant serving vegan salads too!
Vegan green avocado and nuts energizing salad
Yes, that is really rare in Montenegro. Hardly ever you will find any vegan, or at least, vegetarian meal. Even though it would not include any meat, it might have cream, butter, or anything like that. That is just their cuisine.
We did not expect anything very spectacular or sophisticated. We would be happy just with a simple salad. But this dish did exceed our expectations. It was fresh, crispy, nicely served and the portion was ideal for a light meal. Neither too small, nor too big.
Vegetables were fresh. Soft and crunchy at the same time. Cherry tomatoes had a lot of aromas. Cucumber was juicy and aromatic as well. Nuts and seeds had a sweety flavor. And finally, avocado was so soft! It had an ideal texture. Neither too soft, nor too hard. Thanks to that you could taste all its aromas. All in all, the composition of these ingredients was great. Not only was it thanks to these flavors, but also thanks to the great combination of textures. Crunchy and soft, sweet, and sour, refreshing, and oily. It was something we wanted to make at home too. So, here it is! Below we added the recipe, so that you can enjoy it too!
Vegan green avocado and nuts salad recipe
Ingredients:
(serving for 2 persons)
- 400 gr rucola
- 250 gr baby spinach
- 1 medium-size carrot
- 1 medium-size cucumber
- 1 ripe avocado
- 14 cherry tomatoes
- 20 walnuts
- 1 tsp. flax seeds
- 2 tsp. sesame seeds
- 4 tsp. sunflower seeds
- 6 tbsp. olive oil (the best one would be this Montenegrin olive oil from the region of Ulcinj)
- 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- Salt
- Pepper
- Baguette or pita bread - optional
Instructions:
- Wash and cut if needed baby spinach and rucola
- Wash tomatoes, cucumber, and carrot
- Peel carrot and cucumber
- Cut cherry tomatoes into halves
- Cut the cucumber into two parts
- Slice each part of the cucumber alongside
- Julienne carrot
- In a large bowl mix cut vegetables (rucola, baby spinach, carrot, cucumber and cherry tomatoes)
- Season it with salt and pepper and mix it well once again
- Take two large plates or pasta bowls and divide the prepared vegetables’ mix evenly on each of them
- Wash avocado and halve it
- Remove the seed and peel the fruit
- Cut each halve into small cubes
- Place avocado cubes on top of the salad mix on each plate
- In a cup mix all seeds (sunflower, flax seeds and sesame seeds)
- Sprinkle each salad with the seeds mix
- Add to the salad halved walnuts
- In a small bowl mix olive oil with vinegar and pour it over each plate
- Sprinkle each salad with lemon juice
- Optionally cut baguette into thick slices and serve with the salad (serve chilled and right after preparing)
TIPS: Serve it with red wine!
