Our fluffy vegan chocolate mousse uses only 3 ingredients and its light, fluffy texture is to die for. Comes together in minutes, but disappears in seconds.

Ingredients:
– 1 cup chickpea water (from 1 x 400g/14oz can of low-sodium chickpeas OR home cooked chickpeas)
– 20g / 1 heaped tsbp white caster sugar
– 140g / 5oz dark (70% cocoa) chocolate
– 2 pinches of hot chilli powder (optional)

GARNISH (optional)
– 1 Tbsp chocolate shavings
– a handful of pomegranate seeds
– a handful of chopped pistachios

Method:

1. IF COOKING YOUR OWN CHICKPEAS: Cook at least 1 cup of dry chickpeas as you would normally. Soak in plenty of water the night before. Discard soaking water and rinse. Put in a pot with plenty of fresh water and cook for about 1 hour or until tender. Do not skim the surface foam, do not use salt or baking soda. Once chickpeas are done, fish them out with a slotted spoon and return the water to the stove for about 10-15 minutes or so (without a lid), to reduce it slightly. You want the liquid to get a little bit thicker, like a thin syrup. Take off the stove, cool and sieve any chickpea bits that may be left floating in the water before whipping it up.

2. Break the chocolate into smaller chunks and melt it very slowly over a water bath. My electric hob goes from 1-6, I used setting #2 to melt the chocolate – it’s important to do it slowly so that chocolate doesn’t overheat. Once the chocolate has melted, take the bowl off the water bath and place it on a kitchen towel to cool down.

3. Open your tin of chickpeas and drain the chickpea water into large glass bowl (the bowl needs to be completely grease-free and that’s easiest to achieve with a glass bowl). One 400 g tin should give you 1 cup or 240 ml of chickpea water. Reserve the chickpeas for another use, like a salad or burgers.

4. Using an electric egg whisk whip the chickpea water into stiff peaks. I used an old, £7 worth, hand-held whisk and it took me about 15 minutes to get stiff peaks. If you are a lucky owner of a stand mixer, it will happen quicker.

5. Once you get 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.

6. Check that the chocolate has cooled down sufficiently – it should not be warm to the touch. Add it in gradually, making sure you fold it gently each time. Use a manual egg whisk or a spatula. Do not worry if your fluffy mixture deflates once the chocolate has been added – that’s perfectly normal. By the time you’ve added all of your melted chocolate, the mousse will have more of a pourable consistency. Add chilli powder if using and mix well. 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.

7. Put glasses into the fridge for minimum 3 hours for the mousse to set. I tend to chill mine overnight and it’s perfectly set and fluffy each time.

 

Delicious Recipe courtesy of:
Duncan and Ania
Duncan and Ania’s food journal
Check out more recipes at Lazycatkitchen.com