PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

This is a variation upon a vegan recipe that was causing a stir on-line recently. The vegan recipe, however, was avocado based. I've substituted pumpkin for the avocado. Vegans and vegetarians do tend to plough through a lot of avocados in the mistaken belief that they are fabulously healthy. In fact, they are very oily or, in macrobiotic terms, very yin. They are also sub-tropical and so not entirely localized to the temperate zone climate in which I live. Working in a commercial restaurant - mainly in the production of salads - I see the great popularity of avocados. People want avocados with everything. For vegans it is a dairy food substitute. They like the smooth dairy-like consistency. Essentially, it is baby food. It speaks of a sort of brainless sensuality. Against the trend, I tend to go easy when it comes to avocado. In this case I've decided to redo this vegan recipe and make it avocado free. A big improvement in my opinion.

The original recipe called for one ripe avocado as the basis for the vegan mousse. I've used a cup of mashed pumpkin. Drain the pumpkin well. If it contains too much liquid to reach the right consistency then hang it in a muslin cloth to remove excess moisture.

INGREDIENTS

One cup of cold mashed pumpkin
One quarter cup of cocoa powder
One tablespoon of unhulled tahini
Two tablespoons of rice syrup
A good dash of oat milk
A teaspoon of natural vanilla extract
One good pinch of sea salt

METHOD

Mix all ingredients. Puree in a food blender. Chill.

The original recipe also used agave nectar. Like avocados this is now widely over-used by vegans and ill-informed healthy types. In fact, it is every bit as bad as corn syrup. I've used rice syrup - a grain syrup - instead at about half the quantity and added a pinch of salt - the salt helps the taste of the cocoa. The best rice syrup for this is the very thick stuff you can buy in Asian stores. It is almost hard at room temperature. Heat to use. The advantage is that you can use less of it but it helps the mousse set when refrigerated. Try to resist adding agar. Play around with quantities of rice syrup and cocoa instead in order to achieve the right mousse texture and consistency. Mine worked very well first time.

You could use carob powder instead of cocoa, but it takes much more liquid in that case.