Vegan mayo and aquafaba

Aquafaba is a recent discovery in an area where one might think there is nothing fundamentally new to discover. Aquafaba is the name given to what is essentially the leftover cooking liquid when one boils chickpeas, and what has been recently discovered  is that it can replace egg whites in a variety of culinary preparations, but sweet and savory. This post is about its use in preparing mayonnaise.

Let me tell you: before you try it, you will be very skeptical; when you actually make it and taste the final product, you will feel as if you had performed a magic trick. Not only the mayo does not have the faintest taste of chickpeas but it may taste better than the egg-based alternative. Let me take that back: it does not necessary taste better, it's just different. But if you were given the mayo to eat you would never guess how it was made. You'd probably say it's an incredibly light spread, much easier to digest, with virtually the same creaminess and mouthfeel that we associate with mayo. Additionally, you don't have to worry about than potential dangers associated with using raw eggs and the mayo keeps for a much longer time. It's also much easier on your cholesterol!

I've always used the cooking liquid that comes with canned chickpeas not from legumes I've cooked myself. I try to look for cans that in the list of ingredients only have chickpeas, salt and water, ie, no additives. Some brands use kombu seaweed to cook the legumes, and that aquafaba probably results in an interesting mayo, although I haven't tried it.

My experience is that you can use essentially the same technique for preparing mayo with eggs, just replacing the eggs with roughly the same volume of aquafaba. There are two basically different approaches: by hand and using a blender/food processor, and they both work with this egg substitute.

By far, the most foolproof method I know is the immersion blender technique:

- 1/4 cup of aquafaba
- splash of vinegar or lemon
- 1/2 tsp of of yellow mustard
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup of light tasting vegetable oil, eg sunflower

Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. Use the cup that comes with the stick blender, or something similar, ie, tall and roughly with the same diameter as the blender. Add all ingredients to the cup, then the oil. Let the oil rise to the top and carefully insert the blender until it touches the base of the cup. Then, start pulsing: short intermittent pulses. Once you notice that the mixture is thickening, start slowly pulling the blender up as you pulse. At some point, you can push and pull the blender to fully emulsify the ingredients. Once you reach your preferred texture, adjust the seasoning. Only when the mayo is chilled you can really tell if it's properly seasoned, so don't overdo it. Sometimes, the mayo is too thick and one can dilute it with a few drops of water.

Tofu

Lord, was I craving tofu. Tofu, of all things!

• 500g package of firm tofu
• garlic scapes
• two small bok choy, about 1 kg
• garlic and ginger, minced
• sesame seeds
• sesame oil
• soy sauce
• steamed rice

I pulled this one together without following any recipes, and it tasted quite well. 

Wrap the tofu block in paper towels and place it on a plate. Put another plate on top and a heavy can on top. This is to squeeze as much water as possible from the tofu.

Trim the ends of the garlic scapes and chop them into 5 cm lengths. Later (as I was munching on these!), I realized that these things are like asparagus in that there is a point at which they will become fibrous and tough. Next time, I'll use the same method as I use for asparagus: see where they naturally snap and assume that from there on the vegetable is too tough to stir fry.

Cut the ends on the bok choy, separate and wash the leaves and cut them in half lengthwise. Quickly blanch them in boiling salted water, drain and reserve. Heat the wok, add garlic and ginger, fry until golden. Add the blanched bok choy and stir fry. Season with soy sauce to taste and remove from heat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and coat with a tablespoon of sesame oil. Ready.

Cut the block of tofu in half transversely, then into 5cm lengths crosswise and in half lengthwise. 

Wipe the wok clean. Heat it, add oil. Place the tofu chunks in the wok to fry undisturbed until it forms a crust. Flip to the other side and repeat. Once the tofu is golden, reserve. Add a bit more oil if necessary, fry some garlic and ginger until fragrant and then add the garlic scapes. Stir fry. Put the lid on and allow the vegetables to steam. Once the scapes are cooked - slightly wilted but still crunchy - return the tofu to the wok and incorporate. Season with soy sauce to taste and place on a serving platter.

Eat with steamed rice and jasmine green tea.

Harvest (Moon)

Pesto

This worked:

• 85 g of basil leaves
• 30 g pine nuts
• 1 garlic clove
• 60 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 150 ml olive oil
• (coarse) salt to taste

I've used a granite mortar and pestle that was too small for this quantity of pesto, but things worked out in the end. Start by grinding the garlic clove with a bit of salt into a smooth paste. Then add the basil leaves a handful at a time and grind them into a paste as well. Do not pound, use the sides of the mortar. I had to add the basil leaves in two stages. There is a bit of a discussion about how you dry the leaves once you wash them. This was not a issue in my case, as the basil came from a plant I have in my balcony. Then, add the pine nuts and grind them into the paste. The cheese should be half pecorino half parmigiano, but this is what I had on hand. Incorporate that into the paste. Lastly, the olive oil. This quantity of oil may be reduced, 100 ml should be enough. Add salt to taste and mix well.

What strikes me in this preparation is the balance. None of the components stands out. And this is a good thing.

PS: Most recipes will call for much more garlic. I have a problem with raw garlic and only used one.

Fermented hot sauce

Food fermentation is an utterly fascinating topic; the book by Sandor Katz ---The Art of Fermentation---, and the author himself are a reflection of that fact.

If you like spicy stuff, you haven't got a single excuse not to try this. Find some hot peppers, preferably organic, cut them open, get rid of the stems and of most of the seeds, pack them inside a glass jar along with a few skinless garlic cloves which you have previously crushed. Cover with slightly salted water - preferably seat salt - and make sure all solids are completely submerged in the brine. Cover the jar but keep in mind that some gas will be released as a consequence of the natural fermentation process: if the seal is airtight, the jar might explode.

I let the peppers ferment between September 15 and September 29. Then, I've separated the solids from the brine, reserved the brine, and used an immersion blended to patiently obtain a puree. I've added some of the brine to ease the process. Then, I've sieved the puree, using a silicone spatula to separated the sauce from the skins and seeds, which were discarded.

The jar with the sauce has been sitting in the fridge and I've used its contents whenever possible. The color is absolutely beautiful, almost unnatural. The sauce is spicy, but no unbearably so. Commercial hot sauces have this vinegary aspect which is tiresome. This sauce has some acidity --- again, a byproduct of fermentation --- but not overwhelming. 

All and all, a very enjoyable hot sauce, brighter than anything I've tasted. The peppers I have used are probably malagueta chilies, but it's never easy to identify these things if they are not grown from certified seeds. There where a couple mature Poblano peppers thrown in as well. The brine is still in a glass jar inside the fridge, and I am sure that I'll come up with a few ways of using its contents....

Caldeirada

Caldeirada is a Portuguese fish stew. Every coastal area, at least in the western world, will probably have a version of this dish. Even in Portugal there are many declinations. Fishermen would cook this stew on board of the ship with whatever fish was plentiful.

This is the way I do it at the peak of the summer, when tomatoes are ripe and full of flavour. If that's not the case, good quality tinned tomatoes are a much better solution than bland and tasteless supermarket "tomatoes". I choose not to put bell pepper in my caldeirada. This will be considered an heresy by most. I find that the bell pepper overpowers everything else, and surely masks the flavour of the most important ingredient, the fish, which should - and is - the centre of this masterpiece. The recipe is very simple, it's basically a set of guidelines. The freshest and highest quality ingredients and patience are key to achieving the best results. And then, no matter what, the result is always very satisfying.

For 4 people:

- 1 kg of caldeirada mix. This will vary with the season, daily and depending where you are in Portugal. It will often consist of monkfish, skate, pata roxa (a variety of shark - no kidding), moray, conger, sometimes tuna - which I find not to be appropriate -, and whatever is plentiful on that day.

- 1.5 kg of potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 cm thick

- 1 kg of tomatoes, preferably peeled, or a 400g tin of good quality tomatoes, sliced

- 4 or 5 garlic cloves, sliced

- 2 onions, cut in half and then thinly sliced

- parsley, a bunch

- olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper

-  a glass of white wine, beer or even water.

Find a pot which will fit all the ingredients tightly, almost to the top. If you have the time, sprinkle the fish with coarse salt and let it stand for half an hour or so. Then, start layering the ingredients, starting  with onion, potatoes and tomatoes, and season each layer with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add also parsley and the slices of garlic. Then the fish. The last layer should be of tomatoes, potatoes and onion. A glass of whatever liquid goes in. Put the pot on the stove, medium-low heat. Put the lid on and let it very slowly cook. Quite a bit of liquid will form. Open the lid as few times as humanely possible and under no circumstance should you try to stir the pot with a spoon. The most you can do is gently shake the pot. Once the potatoes are done, i.e., once you can pierce them with the tip of a knife, turn off the heat. Wait for 10 minutes and dig in. You will need an off-dry white wine, good quality bread and a simple salad of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber (if in season).

Rice vermicelli

No matter what others on the interwebs may say, this is the way to obtain rice vermicelli (the 0.5 mm thick ones)  that are nice and cooked but not soggy:

• boil enough water to completely submerge the noodles;
• put the noodles in a large pot;
• wait a couple of minutes (because we don't want really boiling water) and add the water to the noodles;
• use chopsticks to move around the noodles and loosen them;
• once the noodles are flexible but retain some bite, they are cooked -  3 to 4 minutes;
• drain the noodles using a sieve and thoroughly (and I mean thoroughly!) rinse them under cold running water in the sink;
• put the noodles in your salad spinner and get to work: spin and throw the water away - do that until no water (or almost no water) gets spun;
• put a saucer upside down in a bowl so that if any water collects at the bottom, it won't touch the  noodles;
• add the noddles to the bowl and let them air dry a bit;
• voilà!

I  used them for bun cha and for fresh spring rolls, but there are many other possible uses for this canvas.