A tea-lightful surprise awaits you with our mayo & aioli. It’s addictively delicious, but you can indulge in it guilt-free because it’s plant-based. Egg-free & dairy-free, but richly satisfying. Slather it on sandwiches, use it for potato salads, make an aioli for dipping & use it in place of any recipes you’d normally use mayo or aioli in.

The rich texture & thickness comes from an unexpected source—the liquid that chickpeas are cooked in!  Known as “aquafaba”, it has a similar effect to eggs in this & some other recipes. From now on, when you open a can of chickpeas or make them at home, instead of discarding the liquid, save it & use it for this, or other fun recipes like our Alchemist's Meringues.

One of our favourite teas for this recipe is our pine-smoked Lapsang Souchong tea, which delivers a to-die-for smoky taste that seems to make anything you put it into irresistible. For a refreshing lemony aioli or mayo, look no further than our Philosopher’s Brew tea. Try some of your favourite teas & let us know what your favourite combinations are.

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Get inspired with more tips, techniques & recipes - watch & learn directly from Tea Master Daniela Cubelic in this captivating VIDEO SERIES.

Learn how to make chai tea soup, tea hot chocolates, mulled cider teas, tea infused oatmeal, ice cream tea floats, tea lemonades, iced teas & more. You’ll also discover fascinating facts & info about the health benefits of tea, tea history & secrets for tea brewing.

We’ve adapted this recipe from a vegan mayo we found in the New York Times.

 

TEA MAYONNAISE

gluten-free, vegan

makes about 1 cup

INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons SILK ROAD tea
the liquid from one 15-ounce can of chickpeas
1 teaspoon apple cider or white vinegar  (white vinegar will give the mayo a more classic taste, whereas apple cider is associated with added health benefits. Either makes a yummy mayo. You can enhance the tea flavour in the mayo even more by using Tea Infused Vinegar, which is fast & easy to make. Click here for recipe.
½ teaspoon fine salt
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
¾ cup grapeseed oil*
*Note: we recommend grapeseed oil for this recipe because it results in the most glossy texture & the taste is light, so it doesn’t overwhelm the mayo. You can substitute with any cold-pressed, neutral flavoured oil. For an even “healthier” mayo, try flaxseed or pumpkin seed oils which are rich in Omega-3, but they have a stronger flavour of their own. 

 

DIRECTIONS

1. The day before you want to make this recipe, drain the chickpeas, retaining the aquafaba liquid. You can set the chickpeas aside for another recipe. If you’re not making the other recipe right away, place the chickpeas in a bowl, cover them with water & store in the fridge until ready to use. 

Measure out ½ cup of aquafaba into a small container & stir in the dry loose tea leaves. Put the container into the fridge & leave to infuse overnight. Once the aquafaba is infused, strain out tea leaves. At this point, the tea-infused aquafaba you have might look a bit strange & murky—relax, this is normal. We promise it will taste delicious!

2. Measure out ¼ cup of tea-infused aquafaba into a tall-sided container such as a wide-mouthed mason jar (it needs to be wide enough to fit an immersion blender & tall so that the liquid doesn’t spray when you are mixing). Stir in the vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice & mustard powder.

3. Place the mason jar on a surface where it will not slip or move—you can anchor it by putting it on a textured surface, such as a grippy silicone mat or a moistened dishcloth. 

Turn immersion blender to high speed & slowly start to drizzle oil into the container in a very thin & steady stream. It should take about 5 minutes to pour in all of the oil. It is important to add the oil gradually, in order for the ingredients to emulsify properly.

Once finished, the mayo will be thick & glossy.

If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can make it in a blender or food processor as long as the blender or food processor has a small opening that allows you to add ingredients while it is running. 

If you don’t have any of these types of kitchen equipment, you can even mix this by hand with a whisk, with a bit of extra effort. (Having a kitchen helper comes in handy when mixing by hand but you can do it by yourself as well.)

To mix by hand, pour all ingredients into a medium-sized bowl. Start whisking as vigorously as you can, & then slowly start to drizzle in the oil as described as above. If you have a helper, one person can hold the bowl & whisk while the other drizzles the oil. Whisking by hand may take slightly longer than with an immersion blender, but you’re getting more of a workout when you whisk by hand ☺

4. Store in the fridge. We recommend using it up within a week & keeping stocked with fresh batches. 

TEA AIOLI

Aioli is an Italian style mayo & dipping sauce which traditionally uses olive oil & garlic in addition to the other ingredients typically found in mayo.

It’s very easy to convert this recipe to an aioli. Substitute the grapeseed oil with a good quality extra virgin olive oil. Replace the mustard powder with Dijon mustard. In addition, peel 2 cloves of garlic & mash into a paste.

Otherwise, follow the recipe as above. Once the oil has been mixed with all the other ingredients as outlined earlier, gently fold in the mashed garlic as the final step.