Shawn’s Tofu Mayonnaise
…..a versatile sauce without any animal products - definitely for those days when your feeling adventurous!
The proportions that follow make one batch, but it is worthwhile to double it because you will find so many uses for the mayonnaise.
I will steal this phrase from Alton Brown:
THE HARDWARE: A stick immersion blender is highly recommended. A conventional annoying blender will also work but will be…well, annoying. A food processor may also work but care must taken to achieve a perfectly smooth texture, or you may end up with an oily product with bits of mucusey tofu floating around. (I hear Julia’s voice in my head when I write the phrase “care must be taken”)
THE SOFTWARE:Assemble the following on your work surface and leave them out until you have tweaked the taste to your purposes at the end of the blending.
*One brick firm or soft tofu or a combination of the two, drained but not pressed. Morinu highly recommended.
*a quantity of olive oil-about 1 cup. Any mild flavored oil will do actually.
If you intend to use the mayonnaise as a pasta sauce with lots of basil etc, you might want to use a stronger flavored olive oil.
*2 Tablespoons (to begin with) of each of the following:
-your favorite brown mustard and the flavoring/texture possibilities should suggest themselves to your appetite.
-sugar
-vinegar…any sort; all are good. I favor malt vinegar. *copious amounts of salt and black pepper.
THE METHOD: Blend until well incorporated. There is some simple chemistry happening here. The mustard (instead of eggs) is playing the role of emulsifier .
-Now taste. You will adjust all ingredients proportionately.
For a Miracle Whip/cole slaw dressing flavor you may need to fiddle with the sweet/ sour balance, adding a bit of sugar, more vinegar, then maybe more mustard if the texture becomes too loose.
-a chalky texture means that you must add more oil a bit at a time
And then you might need to also adjust the mustard emulsifier, and now the sweet/ sour flavors again. Yes, this back and forthing does get fiddly but only on your first batch.
After that you’ll know the proportions that work to your taste and purpose. Refrigerate immediately and this will keep for at least a week.
If you want a mayonnaise based sauce for hot pasta keep in mind that this mixture might separate if the pasta is very hot. Allow your ingredients to cool a bit before adding the sauce. (If you were making an Alfredo type sauce for instance)
This mayonnaise has dozens of uses: dip? Mayo, garlic, oregano, scallions, basil, Old Salty’s chips. Creamy salsa dip/dressing? Mayo and a few globs o salsa, pour over pasta, cilantro, protein product. I haven’t tried it yet, but the little chef in the back of my head says that this mayonnaise would work well in our old favorite salad dressing cake recipe.
