Avocado Mousse with Gula Melaka, Coconut and Coffee

Avocados – some love it, and some hate it. Even those who are not so keen on the taste of the fruit may change their minds after trying this Asian-inspired dessert. Here, rippened avocados are first blended with coconut juice into a creamy mousse, then topped with a syrup of gula meleka and espresso, and finally garnished with shreds of fresh coconut. Sounds like an unlikely combination but one that is totally delicious!

I love it that we do not need any cream to make this mousse as avocados are naturally creamy and rich. I made a non-coffee flavoured one for my daughter and she ended up wanting my coffee -flavoured one. This dessert is quick to prepare – all it takes is a couple of minutes with a blender. The most important thing is to make sure that the avocados are ripe. They need to be dark and slightly soft when you press on the skin.

The recipe suggests that you first prepare the avocado mousse and then chill it while preparing the gula meleka and coffee syrup. However,  I would not recommending leaving the mousse around for too long as may oxidise and change colour. As such, I have amended the steps by preparing the gula meleka syrup and espresso separately first. If you find that the gula meleka has thickened too much as it cools down while you are making the mousse, heat it quickly and it will become thinner.

Avocado Mousse with Coconut, Coffee and Gula Melaka (Serves 6)
Recipe adapted from Slyvia Tan

Ingredients:

• 8 ripe avocados
• 1 young Thai coconut, flesh and water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup broken up gula melaka (palm sugar) or bottled gula melaka syrup
• ½ cup expresso coffee

Method:

1. Prepare the gula melaka syrup, break up a block of palm sugar to fill a cup. Place broken pieces into a small pot. Add half cup water and heat gently till sugar melts into a brown syrup. Strain into a cup.

2. Prepare the espresso (or instant coffee granules) according to the instructions on the package. Set aside both the gula melaka syrup and espresso.

3. Cut off ends of avocados and squeeze pulp right into the blender. Add coconut water from one coconut and sugar. Blend till smooth. Set aside. (I suggest that you refrigerate the avocados and coconut first before preparing this dessert so that you get a cold dessert). Divide mousse among eight clear glass dessert cups.

3. Mix the gula meleka syrup and espresso together. If the gula meleka syrup has thickened due to cooling, reheat it quickly before mixing. Add a swirl of gula melaka and coffee syrup into the avocado mousse and stir through to create a marbled effect. Top with the freshly shaved flesh from the young coconut.

Decadent Chocolate Mousse… made of Tofu

How can anything made of tofu possibly be decadent? That’s my first thought reading through postings from bloggers who have made this dessert.

Although I am a huge fan of tofu and have used it to make cheesecake (check out my soyabean tofu cheesecake), making a tofu mousse takes another leap of faith. For the tofu cheesecake, there are equal amounts of cheese and tofu.  But in this mousse, tofu is the main ingredient. However, the reviews were so convincing that I went ahead to try this.

I was not disappointed – the result is a silky smooth, rich and one of the chocolate-st mousse I’ve had. The best part is that it’s lower in calories than a chocolate mousse made with heavy cream and doesn’t leave you with a heavy feeling in your stomach after you eat them. It was light yet rich with a deep chocolate flavour.

You are probably wonderful if it tastes like tofu. There is not a hint of it as that was totally masked by the chocolate and the liqueur. It’s definitely important to use a good quality chocolate and although you may reduce the alcohol, don’t skip it completely. I reduced it by half as I was going to give it to my kids.  It’s so easy to make as all you need is to melt the chocolate and blend the tofu. This chocolate tofu mousse is definitely a great dessert to serve at a dinner party. After all  if you do not tell anyone that this delicious chocolate mousse is made of tofu, no one will know! 

Decadent Chocolate Tofu Mousse (Makes 4 small servings)
Recipe from Gourmatine’s Blog.

Ingredients

• 1 package (270 grams) of silken tofu, drained
• 120 g high quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 60 ml cup water
• 1 tbsp almond milk/soy milk
• 110 g sugar
• 2 tablespoons port/Grand Marnier (I replaced with 1 tbsp of Brandy)

Method

1. Place the heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering simmering water and melt the chocolate with cocoa powder, almond milk, water, liquor and sugar stirring occasionally. Once melted remove from the heat.
2. Blend the silken tofu in the food processor, until very smooth, then gently fold into the chocolate mixture. (after this step, I sieved the chocolate mixture three times to remove lumps).
3. Divide between the serving dishes and chill for at least an hour in the fridge.

Jamie Oliver’s Bun and Butter Pudding

Last week, I made Jamie Oliver’s banana honey bread which  turned out dense and chewy because I added in too much liquid. The dough looked rather dry at first, so I kept adding more banana puree and over did it! What was I going to do with a whole tray of buns that my kids would not eat? While going through Jamie’s website, I came across a highly rated bun and butter pudding recipe.

My chewy banana honey bread looked like the perfect ingredient for this recipe as the bread would definitely become a lot softer after soaking in the custard. With addition of a small amount of brandy and orange zest, this bun and butter pudding was a clear winner.

Bun and butter pudding (serves 6)

Ingredients

• 600ml semi-skimmed milk
• 600ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod
• 4 medium eggs, preferably free-range or organic
• 170g caster sugar
• 6 hot cross buns, sliced in half and spread with a knob of butter
• 3 tablespoons Cognac (I substituted with brandy)
• handful of dried apricots, chopped (I substituted with raisins)
• zest of 1 orange
• a little icing sugar

Method

Preheat the over to 170°C. For the custard base, bring the milk and cream just to the boil in a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and add to the pan. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale, then whisk in the milk and cream mixture, removing the vanilla pod shell.

Dip the hot cross bun halves in the mixture, then place in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle over the Cognac and sprinkle over the apricots and the orange zest. Sieve the custard over, and leave it all to soak for at least 15 minutes.Place the dish in a roasting tin, half-fill the tin with hot water, then bake the pudding for about 45 minutes. When cooked it will have a slight crust on top but will still be slightly wobbly inside. Dust with the icing sugar and serve.