Homemade egg free mayonnaise

A lot of what we eat is made from scratch. 

This is for various reasons. First of all, as a homemaker I just really enjoy doing all these kitchen DIY activities! Secondly, it saves us loads of money. It's usually also healthier as you can control how many salt, sugar, fats etc you put in your food, without a lot of other chemicals and additives that processed foods usually contain. In most cases it's more environmental friendly as well, as you use your own containers and you don't have all the extra packaging that goes into a landfill. For us, another reason is simply the lack of availability. Living in a country where simply a lot of the "western" stuff isn't available can sometimes be a challenge when it comes to food, so you end up making a lot of things at home. But in the end, I think that's a good thing. 

Homemade mayonnaise is one of those things I always have on hand. It's just so easy to make when you use this method-- No endlessly whisking! I think that's the main thing that withholds most people from making mayonnaise from scratch. But then there's also the raw egg issue. There's some controversy on whether or not raw eggs are healthy, but to be on the safe side you can easily make homemade mayo with no eggs. Of course, there is also the issue of dietary restrictions and allergies, so no one has to miss out on this delicious condiment. Probably the best thing of all is that no one will even notice that it's eggless!

Though there are many egg alternatives out there, like flax seeds and even bananas, the secret ingredient here is chickpea brine, also known as aquafaba. Since we eat a lot of chickpeas anyway, I just save the brine for making mayonnaise and freeze it. So this ingredient is basically free. 

For one batch, you'll need: 

One cup of oil of your choice- any oil is fine, except for coconut oil (250 milliliters)

About 1/4 (60 milliliters) to 1/3 cup (80 milliliters) of aquafaba (this depends on the thickness, and using canned vs home cooked chickpeas can also make a difference) 

1/4 teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of honey or any other sweetener, a tablespoon of vinegar, a teaspoon of mustard. 

Put aquafaba in a narrow shaped mug (but still wide enough for an immersion blender to fit in). Then put the salt, mustard, vinegar and honey in the mug and finally the oil of your choice. Starting at the bottom, start to blend. Blend for a few seconds before slightly lifting your blender. Blend for another few seconds again before lifting your blender, untill all of the oil is mixed in and has thickened. Now, refrigerate for a few hours; if the mayonnaise is still on the runny side, usually after refrigerating for a few hours makes the mayo thicker. If you happened to have a runnier batch that won't thicken upthere's still a lot of ways how to use that, but I'll try to elaborate on that in another post. My mayonnaise is always perfect when using this method, though I've heard some people saying that theirs is a bit runny. Possibly it's a matter of trial and error as to how much aquafaba to use.