Chocolate Mousse with Konpeito Wasurena-Gusa

Tonight, I went back to my Thai Green Curry Shrimp Risotto and made-over the recipe with fresh coriander, shitloads of garlic and onions, a more authentic brand of green curry paste and enough parmesan to make a sailor fall in love with me.

Mum couldn’t really focus her taste buds on the dish as the wine went to her head pretty quick. (Lightweight.) It was quite a laugh. Laughing wasn’t really a problem for my throat. Chocolate was. Hence, even more so was chocolate my focus tonight.

Some say a hoarse, deep-toned voice for a girl is pretty hot. Possibly. I’m probably gonna get that quite soon but it’s not too bad since I’ve never had a very sweet-sounding voice to start with, and that’s always worked pretty fine for me. Something else that’s pretty fine was this dessert I tried out today . I’m not a big mousse chomper but I like it quite well now and again; reason being the mousse 

I find are always a little too heavy for me and seem to bloat me up big like a balloon after just a few spoons. While this mousse isn’t too heavy, I still thought it wasn’t airy enough and that was possibly due to my ineptness. It tasted fantastic though and the texture was gloriously smooth. Clarissa wiped the whole souffle cup clean. Mum thought it was a little too sweet and so did I but generally, I find that sweetness is quite subjective so it’s good to go with the flow depending on who you’re cooking for that evening.

Chocolate is an aphrodisiac. It’s a great pick-me-up and reliever of stress. It’s wonderful for pre-times of the month (ladies, you’ll get my drift) and it’s usually your next best friend after that pup of yours. It’s a wonderful strengthener of friendship and means of social bonding. Next to that, konpeito doesn’t seem so wonderful. I mean, rock candy against chocolate? It’s never gonna be a dead ringer for the latter or hold its own against such a phenomenal candy. But I love konpeito so I’m allowed to be biased. I figured chocolate comes into the love scene quite a lot. Therefore, I paired my chocolate mousse with Konpeito Wasurena-gusa from Hidemi. You’re saying, Come again? Wasurena-gusa are Forget-Me-Nots and in flower language, this blue flower is a flower symbolic of enduring love and fidelity. Kinda fits with the whole love theme I’ve got going on doesn’t it? And the blue tint of the sweets is so pretty I can’t get my eyes of them.

Hidemi’s konpeito comes in 2 sizes - small and large. And these konpeito were much a lot more ‘explosive’ than the ones from Kasugai. They were more spikey and crazily formed (much to my amusement). Prettily package with a pastel-coloured tie around a vacuum-sealed plastic packet, these are preferable for gifts. In fact, the maple-flavoured ones will be posted to a special friend of mine next week as a very late housewarming gift. I’m quite unwilling to do so but it’s not practical to have so many little bags of rock candy around or I’d be toothless before I’m even 21 next month.

The flavour of the konpeito is very faint so if you do get a packet of flavoured ones - whether forget-me-nots, sakura, hydrangea, etc. - don’t expect it to be like your usual candy. There’s only a very slight hint of it, almost like an aftertaste on your tongue and an elusive scent in the back of your nose when you breathe out (at least that’s the only way I can describe it). I thought these were a fun topping to go with the mousse. Very contrasting textures, providing a good crunch to the smooth creaminess of the mousse and looked quite cute as well. I’m starting to think konpeito are pretty swell an ingredient or topping - add it to cakes, puddings and cookies? Yes, no?

Call me obsessive, I know I am, but I REALLY can’t get over konpeito. They made my chocolate mousse so delightful! If you, like me, can wax lyrical about these silly-looking sweets, drop me a comment. We can chat more breeze about ‘em like sugar-psychos, whilst I go on ahead and shock the world with my wonderful husky and rough voice. Watch out.

Ingredients

A little note for my future reference: find that whipping the egg mixture until it’s cool to touch is not quite practical as adding the melted chocolate (even though it’s just slightly warm) causes it to seize. 

Therefore, need to be mindful about temperatures of the different liquids!