Aquafaba… the waste product you never knew you needed

September 25, 2016 by rachelmaree 2 Comments

Aqua-whaaat? Yeah I know, it sounds weird. But “aquafaba” is the name for the brine which legumes like chickpeas are cooked in. Yep, that’s right… the stuff you usually drain down the sink when you make hummus or add chickpeas to a casserole.

A while ago, I found out you could use chickpea brine to make meringues. It sounded so crazy, I just had to try it! No one I know is actually egg free, and nor do I make a lot of meringues in my life. But, the novelty factor! Besides, it was great to know something which usually goes down the sink could be turned into something useful, good to have an egg-free option, and also good to have a meringue recipe which didn’t require separated eggs which can be a pain at times.

Anyway, I tried it, and they turned out great! Well, maybe just “average”… hard to say. I was making a “batch and a half” and slightly miscalculated the sugar, which didn’t help, but aside from that I thought they just tasted a little bit odd. But, my husband reckons they pretty much tasted how shop-bought meringues tasted, so I guess that’s a good thing.

However, from these “odd” tasting meringues, a freaking DELICIOUS gluten free, egg free, dairy free dessert was born… Eton Mess made with chickpea meringues and coconut yoghurt. OMG! Talk about heaven! The bowl was ACTUALLY licked (here’s looking at you, Leah!) and a repeat of the same was put firmly on the menu for another family event last night. I don’t have a photo of the end product unfortunately… the first time I made it, I didn’t get a chance, and then last night’s one was quite sloppy and not that pretty so I decided against it. But, just trust me on this one! Recipe/assembly instructions below.

I was all set to blog that recipe when I read another aquafaba recipe on the Love Food, Hate Waste website, which was using it to make chocolate mousse. Intrigued, I HAD to try that before I blogged and it took me a while but I finally tried it this week. Another OMG, delicious moment. It was great! Sooooo light and fluffy! My only complaint was that it was a bit too rich, but that would be easily fixed by reducing the amount of chocolate or serving it with something else; it wasn’t the fault of the chickpea brine. We have also concluded that it is best eaten within a day of making. We ate ours a couple of days later and one of them was quite split at the bottom. The others weren’t split as such, but they were a little sloppy at the bottom. A minor complaint, though.

What I love the most about these recipes is the fact it is using up something you were otherwise going to throw out. What’s more, I’m someone who really only makes hummus or dessert when entertaining… so I love that by making one of these (hummus), I have a couple of solid options for the second (dessert) using very simple, cheap ingredients. And honestly, if no one told you these desserts were made with chickpea brine, you would never know.

I get that I may have just blown your mind, but I really urge you to try these recipes out at least once… I’m sure you’ll be impressed and amazed! 🙂

Chickpea meringues

Original recipe and some other ideas for using the meringue here: http://alittleinsanity.com/vegan-meringue-recipe-made-with-chickpea-brine/

• 6 Tablespoons liquid brine drained from a can of chickpeas (one can worth is slightly more than you need, but not enough for a double batch. You can freeze the extra to use later). Liquid should be at room temp (but mine has usually only been out of the fridge for about 5-10 minutes and worked fine)
• ½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar (for stability)
• ¾ cups of sugar – ideally caster sugar, but it doesn’t really matter. I think they’re quite sweet though… would probably only use ½ cup next time and adjust from there.
• Pinch of Salt
• ½ to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 120 degrees celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Using a whisk attachment on an electric mixer, add the cream of tartar to the chickpea brine and which on medium-high until it begins to foam (approx. 1 minute).
3. While whisking, add the sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time until dissolved.
4. Add the pinch of Salt.
5. As the mixture becomes thicker, drizzle in the vanilla extract.
6. Continue mixing until glossy, stiff peaks form. This can take anywhere from 7-12 minutes depending on your mixer (in my experience, it’s always been on the lower end – use your judgement).
7. Prepare a  piping bag with a star tip, or just snip the end off a plastic bag. Fill piping bag with meringue and pipe swirls onto the baking tray – or, if you’re intending to break them up to make Eton Mess, just dollop them on with a spoon.
8. Bake 40-45 minutes, then shut off oven – but do not open the oven door! Leave cookies in oven for 1 hour to continue drying, then remove them from oven and let cool before storing in an airtight container. TIP – I have cooked mine slightly longer each time… as long as they don’t burn, there’s no such thing as too dry for meringues, so I’d say cook for about 90 minutes and then leave to try for as long as you can.

Food-allergy friendly Eton Mess

• 1 batch of chickpea meringues
• 1 jar coconut yoghurt of your choice – my absolute fave is Raglan Coconut Yoghurt
• Mixed fresh, frozen (defrosted) or tinned berries of your choice… and a combination of fresh and tinned is probably ideal for good texture. I use 2 to 4 tins, depending on the amount of yoghurt.

1. Crumble meringues into a bowl. Keep the pieces quite chunky.
2. Add yoghurt. Use as much as you like so the meringue (and later the berries) are well coated, but it is not too sloppy. Last night I added the whole jar of yoghurt to the bowl before anything else and it was too much, hence my recommendation to do it the other way around.
3. Drain berries and add to bowl – add as many berries as you think necessary.
4. Fold together, then serve.

Aquafaba Chocolate Mousse

Original recipe here: https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/recipes/aquafaba-chocolate-mousse/

• 100g dark chocolate (50% cocoa)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon aquafaba (approximately the equivalent from one can of chickpeas)

1. Break the chocolate into pieces and add to a bowl with vanilla essence and 1 tablespoon of the aquafaba.
2. Place over a pot with a little bit of water simmering in the bottom. Stir with a metal spoon or dry plastic spatula. As soon as fully melted, remove from heat and allow to cool while you whip the rest of the aquafaba.
3. Use an electric egg beater to whisk the ½ cup of aquafaba for 5 minutes until it forms stiff peaks and looks like whipped egg white.
4. Add quarter of the whipped aquafaba to the melted chocolate and mix through evenly. This lightens the chocolate so it doesn’t flatten the foam as much in the next step.
5. Tip the melted chocolate on to the remaining whipped aquafaba and very gently fold through until it becomes an even colour. The less folding you do the lighter the mousse will be.
6. Pour into serving glasses or ramekins and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.