Mother's Day Mousse
A bonus recipe! If health is wealth, let's eat ourselves rich ...
Well hello there kitchen brethren, nutrition nerds and grubstackers! Have I got a whopper for you!
We’re are continuing to look at the majesty of that metropolis of microbes inside us, what they do, and how to nourish them. The science of gut health is bewitching, and the research available is utterly absorbing.
So many of you beautiful subscribers are equally beguiled by beans and their superpowers - so this week’s recipe is both a bonus recipe and a public post. Free for all!
Plus, given that serotonin (our happy hormone) is made in the gut and not in the brain, I thought you'd like another recipe to fertilise those pipes and optimise our smile dial. There’s also a handy printable version below for you to sellotape to the inside of your baking cupboard (or pop into your kitchen files).
Your mum will be well impressed with these little treasures. I gift you … tiny chocolate pots of luscious mousse. A little magic. And an aria of gut grooves.
Mother’s Day in Ireland falls this weekend. You can get ahead of your siblings by sending your mum a gift subscription to Taking the Hell out of Healthy, at a 25% discount! Just hit this green button to claim the Mother’s Day discount …
In the meantime, we’re alchemising zero-cost aqua faba into soft, pillowy peaks and folding into melted chocolate. The resulting mousse is reminiscent of Italian stracciatella - little flecks of chocolate cozied into a creamy base.
My mum absolutely adores it, especially being lactose intolerant (so no cream or butter for mum).
Why aqua faba?
Apart from keeping this recipe dairy-free, the use of aqua faba helps to recruit those talented short chain fatty acids for superstar gut health. The soak liquid from a can of chickpeas (aqua faba) contains resistant starch, feeding the dynasty of do-gooders in our gut and creating a platoon of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). I loves me some resistant starch.
Gut scientists get excited about SCFAs, given their humble ability to help heal the lining of our digestive tract, and to reduce inflammation in the bowel. Yup. I like to think of SCFAs as the Florence Nightingale of the gut - healing, nourishing, strengthening and tireless. That's a lot of promise for a chocolate mousse!
This is aqua faba (above). It’s almost like egg white. The best '‘whipping’ aqua faba comes from chickpeas, in my opinion. Next best? Butterbeans.
Aqua faba loves air! It changes colour and texture fairly rapidly (see above after 30 seconds of whipping).
And finally, forms lovely floppy peaks after 5 minutes of whipping (see above).
Want to learn more? Dr Rangan Chatterjee talks to Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and Britain's leading gut health scientist. I recommend skipping the advertisements and starting from 9:00 minutes in, rather than starting at the absolute beginning. This is a terrific conversation between two experts on gut health, with actionable ideas and inspirational research. Unlike our genes, our microbiome is something we can influence. Food and nutrition (or lack thereof) can influence the expression of certain genes.
And if you are struggling to up your bean-game because of gut discomfort, Dr Chatterjee addresses this too. (You can also text this podcast episode to your mum, if you search for it on your phone / Spotify).
Any questions, drop them below in the comment section! And if you’re keen on more aqua faba recipes, take a peek at making vegan meringues in my kitchen, or this demo on using aqua faba in place of eggs when making brownies, and one of our all-time favourite cookie recipes. Given the scarcity of eggs in the USA right now, I hope these recipes come in handy for my lovely readers in LA, Colorado, and NYC!
Love, light, and aqua fabalous,
Susan Jane
x
// Salted Dark Chocolate Mousse//
Makes 6-8 little pots
110ml soaking liquid from a can of chickpeas (ingredients should list chickpeas, salt, and water only)
100g of 60%-70% dark chocolate
3 tablespoons icing sugar (not maple or honey!)
Sprinkle of roasted hazelnuts
Sprinkle of flaky sea salt (smoked Achill Island flaky salt is insane!)
Step 1
Slowly melt your dark chocolate over a bain marie. This is simply a saucepan of simmering water, 2-3cm in depth, with a shallow bowl sitting on top where a lid normally fits. Your chocolate will gently melt by the steam of the water underneath. The trick is not to let the water violently boil, or to let the bowl touch the water underneath.
Step 2
Meanwhile, drain your tin of chickpeas through a sieve, catching the aqua faba underneath. Refrigerate the chickpeas as we won’t be using them for today’s recipe.
Step 3
Take the aqua faba and whip for 5 minutes with an electric whisk before adding the icing sugar. Then whip again for another few minutes until it resembles shaving foam. Keep going if not.
Step 4
Now it's time to start cooling down your melted chocolate by removing from its heat source and stirring with a spatula. If the chocolate is too hot, it may seize as soon as it hits the cooler temperature of your whipped aqua faba. This still tastes great, in truth, so don't panic if the resultant mousse feels closer to a stracciatella mousse. We love it this way!
Step 5
Gently fold in one third of your whipped aqua faba using a spatula and figure-of-eight motion. Once this is incorporated, fold in another third. You want to try and save as many air bubbles as possible for the last third! This can take practice, but is largely intuitive.
Step 6
Transfer into dinky little espresso cups, and set in the fridge. We love the obvious choice of crushed hazelnuts with this aqua faba mousse. But sea salt flakes work criminally well too, sprinkled over the top.
