Oh, yes, there will be another version! But I just couldn’t wait to post about it.
Suspiro de Limeña is a romantic name for a luscious dessert with a long history. The name means “A Limenian Woman’s Sigh”. It’s a fabulous Moorish-based dessert that can be traced back to the early 1800’s in Peru. (Most rich and sweet Spanish desserts have Moorish origins.) Evidently is was created by Amparo Ayarez for her poet husband, José Galvez. Because the dessert is both intensely sweet and delicate at the same time, he named it in honor of his wife. It is immensely popular in Peru.
I decided to make this the other night on the spur of the moment (almost) for company, since I made some other Peruvian dishes for dinner. (Many of you already know that my father was Peruvian.) What encouraged me to try a vegan version of this usually egg-and-dairy-laden sweet treat were the threads on Facebook about vegan meringue (check out this group and this one. This particular meringue is made with sugar and, of all things, chickpea cooking broth (or the liquid in a can of chickpeas). Yes, you heard right. And, it works– read on.
I can’t really take much credit for this particular confection, except for putting it together. It is basically dulce de leche (which is called manjar blanco in Peru) with egg yolks, topped by a soft Italian meringue made with port.
For the pudding itself, I used the Un-Dulce De Leche recipe from Terry Romero’s great book on vegan South American cooking, “Viva Vegan” as the starting place for the pudding. It’s delicious! It takes a little time, but it’s worth it for a treat now and then. Terry’s recipe, if you don’t have the book, is available online as a PDF file here.
For the meringue, I didn’t used the exact recipe that is being discussed on Facebook– it’s for baked meringue. I used a version from The Gentle Chef which is meant for a lemon meringue pie. The recipe is here.
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| Here’s the meringue after beating. |
So here are the basic directions, and then I’ll tell you why I want to do another experiment:
For the Manjar Blanco, make 1 1/2 times
Terry’s Un-Dulce De Leche recipe (or just double it and you’ll have some left for another recipe.)
NOTE: I followed the recipe exactly and I used So Delicious Original Coconut Coffee Creamer. However, it didn’t thicken as much as I’d hoped, so I ended up adding another 4 tsp. of tapioca flour with a little more creamer at the end and that did the trick.
To finish the pudding, set aside 2 1/2 cups of the Manjar Blanco in a tall pitcher suitable for immersion blending (save any extra Manjar Blanco for drizzling on another dessert). In another container, with an immersion blender, blend until smooth : 1/2 cup firm silken tofu (or medium firm regular tofu) with 1/4 teaspoon nutritional yeast and a pinch of black salt. Pour some of the Manjar Blanco into the tofu mixture and blend until well-mixed. Scoop this back into the remaining Manjar Blanco and briefly blend until smooth.
Distribute this pudding evenly between 6 small pudding dishes, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Now make the meringue, following
this recipe. It makes alot, so you will have some left for another dessert, or you can cut the recipe in half. I used Xanthan gum, but there are two alternatives. I used 1/2 cup of the broth from cooking chickpeas (there is a white bean option, too). My chickpea broth is quite viscous because I let it cook down just to the top of the beans. I used the vanilla and added a teaspoon of cognac.
Now, here is why I want to try this again: the meringue is supposed to made with port. #1, I didn’t have any; #2, I wasn’t sure if the meringue would work with that much alcohol. Next time I will try it with 1/4 cup chickpea broth (perhaps reduced down from 1/3-1/2 cup to 1/4 cup) and 1/4 cup port. If that works, I will be brave and try it again with just port. You never know until you try!
You can immediately spoon some of the meringue on top of the puddings, swirling it a little with a small spoon. Refrigerate (uncovered) until serving. The meringue did “sink” a little overnight in the fridge, so I would advise eating it within a few hours of making it.
Sprinkle the meringue with little ground cinnamon.
So, stay tuned for updates, and, if you decide to try it yourself, let me know how it goes!
Enjoy!
