Shalvi Mohindra
Pastry Chef and Chocolatier
With Christmas around the corner, we’ll soon need to start planning and thinking about different dishes and desserts. At the same time, while we want to create something amazing for this festive time of the year, we don’t want to overcomplicate it. Mendiant is a French recipe made during winter months (Christmas time), and you’ll find it to be very versatile, a tad decadent, but still a healthy choice as a dessert.
Ingredients
- 300 gm Couverture Chocolate (53% dark chocolate)
- 20 gm candied ginger
- 30 gm roasted cashew
- 30 gm roasted pistachios
- 10 gm candied orange
- 30 gm roasted walnuts
- 20 gm chopped dates
Instructions
1. Liquify the chocolate
Melt couverture chocolate to 34 degrees. If you like you can temper the couverture chocolate by bringing it to 45 degrees, cooling it down to 27 degrees and heating it back up to 32 degrees. This will give you a nice snap and shine once the chocolate is set.
2. Shaping
Once the chocolate is tempered or melted to 24 degrees, pour it in the piping bag and pipe little circles (about 3-4 cm in diameter or 10 grams) onto baking paper, tap the tray to make the circles as flat as possible.
3. Add nuts
Once you have piped all the circles, add nuts to each chocolate puddle. You can mix and match the variety of nuts (add one sweet item like candied ginger and add 2 types of nuts to each mendiant).
4. Cool down or freeze
Let it sit for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or place the tray in the fridge for 5 minutes.
5. Store
Store in an airtight container, in a cool dark place.
Pro Tips
- To make the mendiants sugar free you can buy sugarless chocolate and melt. You can also change the % of chocolate from 53% to 70% or even 80% dark chocolate.
- Be creative with the toppings. You can use any type of nuts, dried fruits or even freeze dried fruits for this recipe.
- Tempering chocolate can be difficult sometimes. This recipe can work without tempering the chocolate too, just make sure not to overheat the chocolate more than 34-35 degrees.
Shalvi has studied Diplome de Patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu, New Zealand and now specialises as a chocolatier. She had previously worked as a Chef de Partie for airline catering, creating desserts for first class and business class passengers, and is now working with as a Head chocolatier at Cocoa Wilds, where all the products are freshly made using no preservatives or artificial flavours.
When it comes to current and new recipes, Shalvi is always looking for healthier options, because desserts can still be indulgent and delicious without negatively impacting our health.
This is why Shalvi’s passion is to find and use only the best natural ingredients; an approach and philosophy she also incorporates in her everyday cooking by using fresh, whole foods and avoiding processed foods.
