Passport & Plate - Chocolate avocado mousse
Ghana | Friday, March 6, 2015 | flickr photos
Ingredients
4 ripe Haas avocados
Half, one small banana
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp non-dairy milk (almond, soy, coconut, hemp)
2 tbsp smooth, natural peanut butte
Salt, just a pinch
Agave syrup or pure maple syrup, to taste
Sliced strawberries (optional)
Cacao nibs (optional)
How to prepare this recipeMy recipe is adapted from Angela Liddon’s Oh She Glows blog. It’s vegan, raw and gluten-free.
1)Peel avocados, remove pits and scoop out flesh. Blend avocados in a food processor until the texture is smooth. Use a spatula to ensure all the avocado is blended.
2) Peel banana and cut in half. Blend half of the banana into the avocado mixture.
3) Add cocoa powder, vanilla extract, peanut butter and salt to the mixture in the food processor and blend. If the mixture is too thick to blend, add one tbsp of non-dairy milk to achieve a smoother consistency.
4) Sweeten to taste with agave or maple syrup.
Optional: Garnish with strawberries and cacao nibs. To achieve a thicker, ganache-like texture, cool mousse in the fridge for one hour.
The story behind this recipeWhen I first arrived in Tamale, Ghana, I was eager to try the food.
I spent six months in Ghana's northern province, working as a human rights journalist. Water was scarce. Electricity was intermittent. Fresh food was available, but not in any variety. Accustomed to abundant choices in Canada, my food cravings were constant.
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My fellow expatriates would often help me sate my cravings. We would conspire on elaborate meals, cooked on a surly stove that was reluctant to produce anything edible. I would spend hours on Pinterest -- when the internet connection cooperated -- cobbling together meals with ingredients we could find in Tamale.
[See picture: Preparing for a Passover seder. My friend Kelsey (L) and I set the table.]
We would often escape across the Ghanaian border for culinary respite, seeking swordfish in Togo or finding French bread in Burkina Faso.
[See picture: I show off my haul of fresh bread outside the Grand Mosque in Ouagadougou.]
We would carefully pack for the return trips, making room for all the essentials: jarred pesto sauce, fresh dates, maple syrup and pastries. In one memorable feat, a friend smuggled back a whole leg of authentic Spanish Jamón ibérico.
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For my 25th birthday, I planned a proper feast: perogies, pasta, roasted veggies and my signature dessert, chocolate avocado mousse.
[See picture: I prepare perogies, while my friend Steve chops onions.]
Ghana is one of the world's main cocoa producers, but regrettably most of the crop is exported. The chocolate available was chalky and bitter. So this avocado-chocolate dish was the only thing that would sate my craving for chocolate. Without a food processor, I would typically spend an hour blending avocados with a whisk.