Jus alpokat. Again.

When should the jus alpokat tourist visit Indonesia? In Biak in November and December 2010 there were avocados everywhere, but in Bali and Timor in August 2011 there were hardly any to be had, and jus alpokat was extremely difficult to find. In Timor, the avocado trees were in full flower and many had small fruits on the trees - these small fruits being the size of the ripe avocados sold in the UK. Indonesian avocados can quite much bigger - the size of a small cabbage, and when ripe rattle as the stone (the single seed) becomes loose inside. In the UK I don't think I've ever rattled an avocado, just given them a gentle squeeze, and when ripe they can be a bit 'mushy' which may be due to the fruits being picked and shipped when unripe and thus ripened 'off the tree'.

Avocado flowers.

In Timor at the night market (Pasir Panjang, Kupang), I watched the fruit juice stall and this was their recipe (though formula is probably a better term for a smoothie). The juice was a bit weak. Either the fruit was too small and there was too much ice, or the fruit was too early to have any great flavour - experimenting with good ripe fruit and the amount of ice will get it just right.

1 avocado (a bit small, an early 'lowland' fruit)

about 2 large dollops (tablespoons?) of condensed milk (the normal kind)

about 2-3 tablespoons of sugar

ice of an equivalent volume to the avocado

Blended together till very smooth (this took longer than I expected) and served in glasses lined with a swirl of chocolate condensed milk - perhaps chocolate ice cream sauce may work (I've never seen chocolate condensed milk on sale in the UK).

Sunset, Kupang.