Aquafaba Garlicky Vegan Mayo.

Oh. My. Goodness...

I'm about to share with you a recipe that I think will change my life. It might change yours too- let's see.

I've always been a bit of a fan of proper mayonnaise , not the horrible chemically stuff, but the real homemade properly lush stuff that if you go & live in Spain your BFs boyfriend thinks nothing of making for lunch (true story) but you would never EVER think of making yourself.

The stuff that if you add garlic to it,  I will happily scoop it up and scoff with almost any kind of food.   Even better if scooping implement is made from potato. Preferably fried.

Ok.  My name is Louise and I love fries with garlic mayo.  (PS-they're even better if you have wine too)

There. I've said it.  It's a delicious food combo.

So shoot me. 

I've never pretended to be a health blogger, I like to eat. I like to eat yummy scrummy food, I just don't like eating things that have been hurt to make my food. Or that contain pesticides or herbicides- which might hurt other things too, or have a lasting nasty impact on the world I love.

The thing is, I haven't yet found an adequete commercial vegan substitute for proper mayo, garlicky or otherwise yet. Actually. I mostly find even ordinary mayo a bit ergh.. it often tastes a bit of chemicals and not at all like that fabled mayo made by my BFF's Spanish Boyfriend made, or like the mayo you find in good French restaurants.

I had in the past tried making my own, traditional, egg based mayo, but I just didn't have the knack for it, the eggs split, or it tasted not quite right, but then I discovered aquafaba..

I've already talked a bit about aquafaba in my carrot cake recipe . It's a bit of a wonder ingredient that has only really just been discovered and is really rather miraculous.

Well... What on earth is it you ask? 

Aquafaba is, quite simply,  the liquid you drain from a tin of chickpeas.  (Or the liquid you use to boil the chickpeas in if you're cooking from scratch).  It's not at all weird, just bean juice. The proteins that end up in the water when you cook chickpeas are really similar to egg protein, and it behaves just like egg white. It can be whipped into meringues, used as an egg substitute when making cakes or used as a binder for savoury vegetable patties.  Quite simply, it's amazing stuff.

I knew that an aquafaba vegan mayo would work, because I'd read loads of accounts of how to make it over on a brilliant Facebook page called Vegan Meringue - Hits and Misses! which has  all kinds of people on it, who are experimenting with aquafaba. There are some SERIOUSLY talented bakers and cooks on there. Knowing it would work in theory, and having not managed to discover any decent commercial vegan mayo,  meant that obviously I really wanted to try making it myself, despite my past disasters with traditional egg mayo making.

I'm so SO glad that I did, because it tastes AMAZING and it doesn't split or go funny like ordinary mayo. Plus no weird chemicals or funny things go into it.

I'm never going to buy mayonaise again. Seriously. It was so easy to do, and this recipe made a pretty decent jar full, so why bother??

Here's the recipe.. go try it out.. Omit the garlic if you want a more trad mayo, but I love it with. Then go and make yourself a batch of homemade oven fries, pour yourself a glass of wine & scoff.  Perfect Friday Night eating.  Or Tuesday. Or whenever...

Aquafaba Garlicky Vegan Mayo

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Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Author: Louise Cayzer

Ingredients

• 3 Tbs Aquafaba (chickpea brine) I freeze it in icecube trays. 1 cube = 1 Tablespoon
• Sunflower Oil (around 100ml- you might need more)
• Olive Oil (around 1 Tbs)
• Juice Half a lemon
• 2 tspns Dijon Mustard
• salt to taste
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• ½ tsp tapioca flour (this is to thicken & stabilise the mix slightly)

Instructions

• In a food processor, start whizzing up the garlic, lemon juice and mustard so it's smooth. 
• Add the aquafaba and whizz again to blend.
• With the motor on, add in a thin stream the sunflower oil through the open spout thingy,
• It should start looking like very thin cream, keep adding oil, it will start to thicken up.
• Add the olive oil, and keep whizzing. 
• Add the salt and taste. Add more lemon juice or salt as needed.
• It's not an exact science, and you'll know when you reach the right 'flavour' and consistency.
• Keep adjusting, maybe adding bit more oil & whipping more to thicken the mayo up.
• Pour into a sterilised jar (I pour hot water over a jar, drain, & pop it in the oven on a low heat for 15 mins to dry out). This helps preserve the mayo a little longer. I have to say however, we (2 people!) managed to go through almost the whole jar in less than two weeks! No chance of it going off!

Notes

Keep the mayo in a jar in the fridge. It keeps for at least a month.
Omit the garlic and olive oil for a less 'Spanish' and more 'French' tasting mayonaise.
Eat on everything. Fries, sandwiches, burgers.. add to coleslaw. I wouldn't add it to smoothies though. That would be weird.