Chilled chocolate thingummyberry

Lack of photos (because I always forget to take any before we scoff all the food) and lack of time are my two main obstacles to posting on this blog.  Undeterred, I press on and make sporadic posts whenever time and inclination are in my favour, absence of photos notwithstanding.

So this time, I have recipes from Another Vegan Dinner to share, even knowing I didn't get round to blogging all the recipes from the last one...  there is something about cooking within limits (be they what you can't use, or what you must use -- this goes some way to explaining my love of Iron Chef!) that, to me, inspires an added frisson of creativity.

This time I was cooking for a Proper Strict Vegan (no honey) as well as my other Not Quite So Strict Vegan friend.  Here is what we ate:

Nibbles
Edamame with sea salt and pepper (no recipe needed; just cook, season and serve!)
Carrot, coriander and sesame dip

Starter
Roasted tomato and caramelised onion tart with white bean puree

Main course
Butternut squash and mushroom makhani (based on this slow-cooker curry recipe)
Green beans and asparagus with fresh tomato dressing (based on this recipe from Kerry Saretsky of Serious Eats)
Sesame-braised baby bok choy (also from Serious Eats, recipe here)
Cucumber and mint salad
Pine-nut pilau rice

Dessert
Chilled chocolate thingummyberry -- a combination of chilled chocolate pudding on a biscuit base topped with a mix of summer berries. 

My piano teacher used to tell me not to start from the beginning every time I practised, or I would end up spending less practice time on the end.  True to form, if I started from the beginning of the menu every time, I'd probably never end up posting the recipes for dessert!  So, in an attempt to buck this trend, I'm going to start by posting the dessert recipe first.  Here goes...

Chilled Chocolate Thingummyberry
(partly based on this chocolate pudding recipe)

10 McVities dark chocolate digestive biscuits (vegan!!)

3 tbs cornflour
30ml (2 tbs) cold water
1/3 cup demerara sugar (you could probably use regular; demerara was what I had)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
pinch salt
1 can (440g) coconut milk (I like Chaokoh brand)
1/2 cup soy milk (again, it was what I had; recipe seems unfussy as to what kind of non-dairy used)
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)

1/2 punnet small strawberries, hulled
1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet raspberries
[I'm sorry, I don't know what a punnet is in weight!  Maybe 150g or so grams for the blueberries and raspberries; maybe more for the strawberries?]

Squuunch up biscuits and spread evenly in bottom of dish (my brown dish, about 12" long by 4" wide by 2" deep and oval shaped, is the perfect size).

Mix cornflour and cold water in a mug.  In a saucepan, whisk together sugar, sifted cocoa powder, salt and coconut milk until combined; place over medium heat; gradually whisk in soy (or other) milk.  Heat until simmering; add chocolate, give it a good stir and let sit off heat for a few minutes (until chocolate is melted) then whisk well to combine.  Stir cornflour slurry until well-mixed and whisk in, together with vanilla essence.  Cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened to slightly less than desired consistency (it will thicken further as it cools).

Pour mixture evenly over crushed biscuit base and scatter berries evenly over surface.  Chill 1-2 hours or until ready to serve.