Vegane Paprika-Tarte (vegan roasted pepper tart)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Base
- 200 g flour rounded
- 2 g fine salt rounded
- 90 g cold vegan block margarine, cubed rounded
- 40 ml cold water rounded
Roasted peppers
- 600 g mixed bell peppers, seeded, in strips rounded
- 30 ml olive oil rounded
- 150 g onion, sliced rounded
- 5 g fine salt rounded
Vegan custard
- 400 g silken tofu rounded
- 50 g chickpea flour rounded
- 20 g nutritional yeast rounded
- 10 g garlic, finely chopped rounded
- 3 g smoked paprika rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
Method
Method
- Rub the cold margarine into the flour and salt until it looks like coarse crumbs, then add the water and bring together into a dough with a few folds. Wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
- Toss the pepper strips and onion with the olive oil and salt and spread on a baking sheet. Roast at 200°C for 20 minutes, until the peppers have collapsed and the edges are lightly caramelised. Leave the oven on.
- Roll out the dough and line a 26 cm tart tin. Prick the base, line with baking paper and baking beans, and blind bake at 200°C for 12 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and bake 5 more minutes, until pale gold.
- Blend the silken tofu, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, garlic, smoked paprika and pepper together in a blender or with a stick blender, for a full 2 minutes, well past the point it looks smooth; any remaining graininess will still be there once baked.
- Scatter the roasted peppers and onion over the base, then pour the tofu custard evenly over the top.
- Bake at 200°C for 30 to 35 minutes, until the custard is fully set with barely any give.
- Rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Blend the tofu custard far longer than seems necessary. Silken tofu looks smooth in the blender well before it actually is; a custard that still has the faintest graininess when raw will not smooth out in the oven.
- Do not skip roasting the peppers first. Raw peppers release a lot of water as they bake, which would leave the custard watery; roasting drives that moisture off and concentrates the sweetness.
- Chickpea flour is what gives this custard body and a faint egg-like set, closer to a savoury pancake batter than cream; do not swap it for a different flour without expecting a different texture.
- It keeps for 3 days in the fridge and reheats well in the oven; a microwave leaves the base soft.
Ingredient substitutions
- Silken tofu is essential to the texture here; firm tofu will not blend to the same smooth custard no matter how long it is processed.
- Chickpea flour can be replaced with cornstarch in a pinch, though the custard sets slightly softer and loses some of the faint egginess chickpea flour provides.
- Mixed bell peppers can be all one colour; a mix of red and yellow gives the sweetest result.
- A scattering of vegan feta or black olives over the top before the second bake is a good, simple addition.