Silken Chocolate Mousse

Hello homebodies!

Now that we’re stuck at home for longer, I thought I’d share my first original recipe on this new, periodically abandoned blog. Curated with love and desperation, this experimental mousse might leave you questioning my knowledge on the *science* of cooking, but with a taste of the idea that making food, after all, is a matter of the heart.

Having learned from the exceptional generations of culinary masters in my family, I use the art of improvisation well. Mostly. I recently got my hands on some great quality silken tofu at the unassuming grocery shop around the corner in my block, and I admit, I wasn’t even aware of the reservoir of delicious potential I was tapping into when I felt that I overpaid for this imported piece of bean curd.

So here I was, with a packet of firm silken tofu on my hands, wondering how I could make the most of it and do it justice. Dinner is on me most nights (division of labour), so I knew I couldn’t use all of this for dessert, even though the box suggested, “best for entrees, salads, and desserts”. After an hour of research on how to cook tofu delicately and with perfection, I decided to “wing it”. Needless to say, if it hadn’t all worked out so shockingly delightfully, you wouldn’t be reading this.

What I did for dinner is another story (another post), but first, I decided to make a chocolate pudding with a part of the tofu. When I got to the end of it, I realised that the pudding was too runny because I had to save much of the tofu for our dinner and couldn’t afford to add more to make it firm. So I beat up two egg whites on an impulse, and the rest is history. No, literally. This unimaginably airy, poofy lovechild between a souffle and a mousse is going down in the history of my family.

I do hope whoever tried this out finds as much joy and ease in this lifesaving, melt-in-your-mouth baked mousse! But if you don’t, let me know how you improvised!

Ingredients

• Silken Tofu (firm) – 150 grams
• Powdered sugar – 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
• Milk – 1/4 cup
• Cocoa Powder (unsweetened) – 2 heaped tbsp
• Vanilla Essence – 1/2 tsp
• Egg whites – 2
• Chocolate shavings

Method

• In a mixer/grinder or blender, add the cut up pieces of tofu, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, milk, and vanilla essence.
• Blend well until the mixture is completely smooth. Check for sweetness and add sugar if required.
• Preheat the oven to 150°C.
• In a bowl, beat two egg whites with a hand-held blender till soft peaks form. Add a pinch of sugar midway.
• Once the egg whites are ready, gradually start pouring the chocolate mixture into the bowl. Gently fold it in with the whipped egg whites with a rubber spatula.
• When the mixture is well blended and uniform, pour it into ramekins halfway through the bowls.
• Bake the mousse at 150°C on the middle rack for about 15 minutes.
• Take it out and check the consistency – it should have a wobble.
• Let it cool. Sieve some powdered sugar on top and finish with some shaved chocolate.
• Serve chilled.
  
  
  Tip: If you want this to be an entirely healthy dessert, sub the sugar for honey or your preferred healthy choice of sweetness. But as we say here, nevermind the waistline, eat till you flatline!