My Mayo

Mayonnaise has never featured in my meals - seriously, I don't remember ever eating it - but I remember the taste, so there must have been a dab of mayo on a tuna or an egg sandwich back there sometime. I never thought of it as anything I really like or dislike, it's just there, and I've never bought it. However, with all the food restrictions I've been experiencing, experimenting with making some mayo began to sound pretty good - so many things it can be used for apparently, like this tomato sandwich, or it can be amped up like this Marcona Almond Vegan Mayonnaise at Elanas Pantry - yum!

I knew I wanted vegan - I used my food processor to grind some raw chicken the other day, and raw animal product in my kitchen equipment is an icky experience that I will henceforth be trying to avoid - I scrubbed and I scrubbed afterwards...*gag*. I know I'm probably being a little over sensitive, but it's my kitchen so I can be as sensitive as I want. Plus, it's really hot and summery and food is going bad on me all the time, and I'd much rather have to smell something plant based gone bad than some yellow egg-paste gone bad. So no egg.

I don't trust my blender with Elana's marcona almond recipe so I'm saving that for when I'm feeling more adventurous. On the other hand, the mayo for the tomato sandwich is a little bit too much like the dressing I always make and not really like trying something new, so I googled vegan mayonnaise and found myself a compromise, Homemade Vegan Mayonnaise from ezhealthydiet - not a place that I have visited before, I just went there by google. It's not as vegan as the name would have it though, there's honey in the recipe, but I'm thinking that could easily be substituted.

½ cup soaked almonds (soak almonds for 8 hours)
½ cup purified water
Juice ½ lemon
3/4 tablespoon honey
½ tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ to 2/3 cup olive oil

The recipe couldn't be easier (original here): it's just blend everything except oil thoroughly, then add the olive oil in a drizzle with the blender running on slow or medium.

I'm no wizard with the blender but it definitely went fine, and it made me feel like quite the gourmet to be making my own mayo. I didn't have any soaked almonds on hand so I went with cashews thinking they'd be softer. Also, honestly, I just used normal, boiled water (why boiled? I don't know. Seemed fancier than tap) and lime rather than lemon. I only added the half a cup of oil, and I used sunflower - my mayo got a bit runny, but it has thickened up to a gorgeous slop in a jar in the fridge. It probabaly doesn't count for much as I wasn't really a mayo-lover - or even a mayo-eater - before, but I really like it. It goes with everything - I swear I even considered having some with my breakfast.