Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • ¾ cup / 180 ml (room temp) aquafaba (from low-sodium canned chickpeas OR home cooked)
  • 1 tsp lemon/lime juice or scant ½ tsp cream of tartar
  • 140 g / 5 oz dark 70% cacao vegan chocolate
  • 10 g / 2 tsp coconut oil (to help with chocolate seizing)
  • 25 g / 2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar (optional, adjust to taste)
  • 1 tbsp chocolate shavings
  • a handful of pomegranate seeds
  • a handful of chopped pistachios

Instruction

  • Place broken up chocolate and coconut oil in a glass or metal bowl suspended over a water bath. Make sure the bowl with chocolate does not touch the water underneath. The key to success is not to overheat the chocolate and to be gentle with it – it's a temperamental ingredient.
  • Allow the water to come to a simmer slowly. Once it does, turn the heat off and allow the chocolate to melt in the residual heat.
  • Once chocolate looks melted, give it a slow and gentle stir. Take the bowl with chocolate off the heat and allow it to cool down - you want it as cool as possible but still liquid.
  • Once chocolate is almost cool, drain room temperature chickpea water (aquafaba) into large glass bowl. The bowl and the utensils you'll use to whip aquafaba need to be completely grease-free as even the tiniest grease residue can prevent aquafaba from reaching stiff peaks.
  • Add acid (lemon/ lime juice or cream of tartar) to the chickpea water to stablise the aquafaba - it helps to reach stiff peaks.
  • Using an electric egg whisk, whip chickpea water into stiff peaks - this is SUPER important as otherwise your mousse will deflate completely once the chocolate has been added. The best way to check if you have achieved stiff peaks is to invert the bowl with whipped aquafaba. If aquafaba slides down even a tiny bit, you are not there yet - keep on whipping until it does not move at all. I use an old, hand-held whisk and it takes me about 8 minutes to get stiff peaks. If you are a lucky owner of a stand mixer, it will happen quicker. The good news is that (as opposed to egg whites) aquafaba cannot be overwhipped.
  • Once you reach stiff peaks, start adding sugar, bit by bit, whipping the whole time. If sugar has caused the stiff peaks to perish, whip the mixture until you get stiff peaks again. Caster (also known as superfine) sugar or icing sugar work well, other sugars are known to make aquafaba deflate.
  • Check that the chocolate has cooled down sufficiently - it should not be warm to the touch or else chocolate is likely to seize and you will end up with grainy mousse.
  • Gently and gradually fold a portion (approx. a third) of melted chocolate into whipped aquafaba - using a silicone spatula and a gentle folding motion. Continue adding the chocolate to the aquafaba in two-three more batches until all of it has been incorporated. Do not worry if your fluffy mixture deflates a bit once all of the chocolate has been added - that's perfectly normal - but you should still see plenty small bubbles in the mixture. By the time you've added all of your melted chocolate, the mousse MAY have more of a pourable than spoonable consistency - that's ok.
  • Divide the mixture between 4 glasses. Gently stir the mixture between putting it into individual glasses as a bit of melted chocolate tends to drop to the bottom sometimes. Once in glass, give the mousses a gentle stir with a toothpick to ensure the mixture sets evenly.
  • Put glasses into the fridge overnight for the mousse to set.