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Lemon Flan. Vegan Flan Recipe. No Bake Eggless Custard flan with caramelized Coconut sugar. Spanish Custard flan or Creme Caramel. Vegan gluten-free Soy-free Oil-free Agar-free Recipe. 1 skillet, 15 minutes.Â
May is apparently National Egg month. How do I know this? Because I get emails and emails about everything. Most PR people do not know anything about the blog. They use a common PR list. All those mails about steaks and eggs are headed to trash and unsubscribe. No unsubscription option and 3 strikes = blocked. It takes incredible amounts of time to go through the inbox everyday, and often the important emails get lost.
Anywho, some dishes that are entirely made of eggs are sometimes difficult to veganize to the closest texture and flavor profile. Flan is one of them. My aunt used to make amazing flan, and yesterday I was thinking of her and that flan! In this version I use cashews and water to make the base and chickpea flour and a bit of starch as thickeners. No Agar! Lemon for the tang, kala namak for the eggy flavor and a pinch of baking powder to aerate the mix while it thickens. The resulting custard is smooth, eggy, lemony and amazing. I use coconut sugar to make the caramel. Use any other sugar or choice. Or make it into a creme brulee by sprinkling sugar on the set flan and torching it to caramel. Since the custard is made on stove top, this flan does not need to be baked.Â
Play round with the thickening and texture that you like and the flavors. More chickpea flour will make a more solid and set flan. More starch will make it more gel like. Kala namak adds a great flavor, but isn’t necessary. Be sure to cook the mixture through because raw chickpea flour will make one bitter and odd flan :). If you use besan, the mixture might be a bit less set.Â
What’s an eggy dish that you struggle to make egg free?
More eggy thngs from the blog
- Egg scramble with chickpea flour
- Egg salad with Tofu
- Frittata with lentil batter
- Omelet with chickpea flour
- Flan with coconut milk and agar
- How to make Flax and Chia Seed Egg sub
Make your caramel and pour into ramekins. Move the ramekins around to spread the caramel before it sets.Â
Make the custard and pour into the ramekins. Let chill for an hour atleast. Then soak in hot water bath, remove from the ramekin and serve.Â
Lemon Flan. Vegan Flan Recipe
Ingredients Â
Caramel:
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp water
Flan custard:
- 1/4 cup cashews, soaked for 15 mins or longer
- 1 tbsp chickpea flour, 1/2 tsp more for more set
- 1/2 tsp starch, cornstarch or arowroot (1/2 tsp more for more set)
- a pinch of baking soda
- 2 tbsp sugar or sweetener of choice
- 2 drops vanilla extract
- 1 cup water
- 1/8 tsp salt
- a good pinch of kala namak, Indian sulphur salt for eggy flavor or use nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- add some lemon zest for more lemony custard
InstructionsÂ
For the caramel:
- Heat all the ingredients in a skillet over medium heat. Mix continuously in the beginning until the sugar mixes in. Use powdered sugar for even caramel if needed. Once the sugar is boiling and bubbly, pour into ramekins. Move the ramekins around to spread the caramel all over the bottom quickly as the caramel will harden.
For the custard:
- Blend all the ingredients until very smooth. Depending on your blender, it might take a minute or so. Pour into a skillet and cook over medium heat. I use the same skillet in which i make the caramel. The mixture will start to thicken and lump after about 2 mins. Keep whisking every few seconds until the mixture thickens evenly. Another 2 mins or so. Cook for another 3 minutes or until the chickpea flour is cooked through. Taste carefully to check. You can also adjust sweet or tang at this point or add in some zest for zestier flan. This step total 6 to 8 mins.
- Pour this hot mixture into caramel ramekins. Tap to even out.
- Cool for 5 mins, then refrigerate for atleast an hour.
- To serve, Place ramekins in hot (just boiling) water for 15 -20 seconds, invert onto serving plate and serve. If the sugar caramel is stuck to the ramekin, place the ramekin in the hot water (or microwave for a few seconds) until the caramel is melted and pour over the flan. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi! I’d like to make 13 servings for a party. What do you suggest to save time? Or do I need to make recipe several times? Thank you!
I would say make 3 or 4 batches (double or triple recipe) as the chickpea flour will thicken and tend to scorch with a larger batch. the caramel can be made a large batch. Just simmer until thick enough like maple syrup. Then you can pour into ramekins,and make the custard and add.
Hi! Is 1 tsp of water correct? I kept stirring but it was so dry. I added a bit more water. I’m guessing maybe 1 tbs total. It was syrupy and bubbling. Looked good. Thank you!
Hi! I’m looking foward to make this recipe. My husban and I love flan but we love the one with cheese, cheese flan or Flan de Queso. My grandmother use to make it and it was awesome. But I can’t find a vegan recipe to veganize it. Can you help me? My husband is an Omnivore and I am transitioning to a vegan/plant base diet/lifestyle. To me it is important to find the food we love in a vegan/plant base version but still rich and flavorful. Again thanks for your time!
You can add vegan cream cheese to this. about a 1/4 cup. Mix it in in the last minute of simmering. mix well to combine, then taste and adjust the flavor. Cook for another minute and then proceed to pour into caramel glazed ramekins. Hope this helps! I like kite hill brand vegan cream cheese as i find it the closest to dairy version
Thank u I have checked that recipe link there is no chickpe flout in that one so what gives that one its custard like taste ? Sorry to be a pain !!
it depends on the type of custard you are looking for. General custard is just a custard mix which is usually some starch and flavors which you mix into milk and thicken. Thats what the boston pie uses. a simple custard. Thick eggy custard which usually use egg would be similar to this mix in this flan. Just add some more dairy milk for a less thick consistency in this one.
Is the custard custardy tasting I wang a vegan custard that’s like custard ! Any tips ? 😊
this is flan tasting flan 🙂 chickpea flour adds the eggy flavor. try the custard from this pudding https://fettabbau-trim.today/2017/01/vegan-boston-cream-pie-pudding.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Do you think it might be possible to sub some sweet rice flour for part or all of the chickpea flour? I have a large amount of rice flour left over from a vegan clafoutis recipe I baked and it reminds me of a flan texture. Thank you for answering our (sometimes peripheral) baking questions.
Yes it should work. it might be softer than with all chickpea flour. so probably handle more delicately
Is there any particular need to serve immediately? I am wondering if I refrigerate , wwill they hold 2-3 days in the fridge??
no you can keep it refrigerated for upto 3 days.
Made this today – fantastic! Such a nice creamy texture. A definate do again recipe. However, next time I think I’ll leave out the lemon & add more vanilla to make it more like a cream caramel. Thanks for another great recipe Richa!
Awesome! yes this is a lemony flan, so there is lot of lemon. You can omit or use just a bit for flavor and more vanilla for the regular flan.