This really is the best vegan clafoutis recipe. It has a perfectly creamy, custard-like centre and golden, puffy top and edges. You may think this isn’t possible in an egg-free clafoutis, but trust me, this recipe delivers!
Clafoutis has now reclaimed its place as one of my favourite weekend breakfasts. Yes, it is technically a desert but I’m definitely a dessert for breakfast person. It is a great way to use the last of the week’s fruit before our weekly shop. The blender batter takes minutes to make, and while you need about 20 minutes for it to bake, you are not chained to a stove during this time.
What is a clafoutis?
Clafoutis is a traditional french dessert, typically eaten in the summer when cherries are abundant. Some people describe it as a cross between a cake and a baked custard, although most recipes tend more towards the custard side.
Why this recipe works
The vegan alarm bells tend to go off when you hear “custard” because custards rely on eggs for thickening, creaminess and flavour.
When we gave up eggs, clafoutis was probably one of the things I missed most. I tried several other recipes for vegan clafoutis (most of these are based on silken tofu), and while they weren’t necessarily bad, they did not have that wonderful clafoutis character.
This recipe uses mung beans as an egg replacer. You may be sceptical, but this is the same stuff that goes into Just Egg, which is not available where I live. Just Egg uses mung bean protein isolate, but here we are using the whole bean. The soaked beans blend into a very smooth batter that behaves like eggs in the most amazing way when cooked. Also, the mung beans add more protein than three eggs and add fibre too.
I’ve added baking powder to the recipe. Conventional clafoutis does not contain baking powder, as the eggs bring the puffiness. The clafoutis will collapse when it comes out of the oven (just like its egg-based cousins), but I still think it makes for a nicer end product.
I have used a very moderate amount of sugar in the batter. If your fruit is not very sweet, or if you just have a sweet tooth, you can increase the amount of sugar. Also, where I live granulated sugar is vegan. Although I have not tested the recipe with other sweeteners, I’m fairly confident that you will be able to substitute this without issues.
What fruit can I use in clafoutis
The traditional clafoutis uses cherries, but this preparation is so flexible, it lends itself to a variety of fruits. My personal favourites are figs, raspberries and plums. Apples are also good, but they need some pre-cooking. Do not use too much fruit – this will make the clafoutis too wet.
Clafoutis variations
This batter is incredibly versatile. In addition to varying the fruit as described above, you can also vary flavour additions. Some of my favourite variations include:
- Replace the vanilla with about a 1/4 teaspoon almond essence. This is especially good with cherries.
- Vary the alcohol in the recipe – Kirsch is great with the cherries, I enjoy rum with peaches or calvados with apples.
- I’ve also made raspberry and chocolate clafoutis, by adding 1-2 tbsp of cacao powder to the batter.
How to serve the best vegan clafoutis
I often have this for breakfast, cut into quarters, and topped with a light dusting of icing sugar and perhaps some toasted flaked almonds. If you are having it for dessert, a little vanilla ice cream would be great.
Related recipes
If you have mung beans left over, try this recipe for vegan South African pancakes.
The best vegan clafoutis
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- ½ cup yellow mung beans, soaked
- 2 cups soy or other plant milk
- ½ cup cake or all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar This quantity is for moderate sweetness. Add more if you prefer more sweetness
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp brandy
- 2 cups cherries
Instructions
- Soak the yellow mung beans for at least an hour or overnight.
- Drain and rinse the mung beans, and add to a blender cup
- Add about half of the soy milk (if you have a big, powerful blender you can add all the soy milk at once – it does not quite fit in even the largest of my Nutribullet cups
- Add the sugar, salt, baking powder, vanilla and flour. Blend until smooth.
- Add the rest of the milk and stir until well combined
- Prepare the fruit, depending on what you are using. If you are using cherries, some people prefer to keep the stones in. Lately, I've been using defrosted black, sweet cherries, so there is not real prep there. If you are using stone fruit or apples, cut in about ⅛ chunks.
- Spray a large cast iron (30 cm/12 inch) pan with non-stick spray (or grease the pan). It is also possible to split this into two individual servings, which will cook a little quicker. You can also bake this in a pie or tart dish of similar size.
- Pre-heat the pan, then add the batter and the fruit. Then, pop the clafoutis into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes at 200 °C / 390 °F. The clafoutis will puff a little, but it is normal for it to deflate when taken out of the oven. The center should be custardy.
- You can either serve the clafoutis immediately, or let it cool a little, but you should eat it while it is still warm. It is great sprinkled with a little icing sugar
Vegan pannekoek
This vegan pannekoek (pancakes) recipe has a secret ingredient that gives it great flavour and a rich texture. The pancakes taste exactly like traditional South African pancakes but are dairy and egg-free. So what is the secret ingredient? Mung beans! At the moment I am borderline obsessed with how these magic lentils mimic eggs in certain recipes. I’ve tried other egg-free vegan pannekoek recipes, and they were just not the same. This recipe is not only a good vegan recipe, it is so good I would recommend it to anyone. The batter is much easier to work with. This version is an absolute joy and it is definitely worth getting your hands on the mung beans. I will be posting more recipes using these soon!
These pancakes are similar to English pancakes, crepes and Dutch pannenkoeken. However, I have formulated this recipe to give the thickness and consistency of South African pannekoek.
Pannekoek in South Africa
South African pannekoek are thin – much thinner than American pancakes. They are a little thicker than a crepe, and also contain baking powder, which traditional crepes don’t have.
Pannekoek on a rainy day is a common family tradition. It has to be actually raining, not just cold or overcast! Then it is time to make a big batch of batter, and start making pancakes. This often involved juggling multiple pans, and taking turns at the stove, while the family gathers in the kitchen, eating fresh pancakes as they are made. If you have more self-control, you can make a giant stack of these pancakes before sitting down for a treat.
They are also a traditional staple of church bazaars, school fairs, and other community events. You will often spot a little pannekoek stand outside a supermarket. A pannekoek, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and then rolled up, is very festival or street food friendly.
Key ingredients for vegan pannekoek
Ok, let’s first talk about the elephant in the room (bean in the batter?). The idea to use mung beans is from the US based egg replacer Just Egg, which is based on mung beans. This is not available in South Africa as far as I know, but why not go to the source? For this recipe, you want the yellow split mung beans. Look for these at an Asian grocer (I found them online). I have not tried these with the green bung beans. It may well work, but the colour will be a bit off. The yellow ones give a very egg like experience when blended.
The other ingredients are pretty standard. I replaced the milk with soy milk, but any plant milk will work. Most pancake recipes include a little vinegar. This is supposed to keep them from being rubbery. I think it probably also balances the flavour a bit.
Equipment
For this recipe, you will need a blender to blend the mung beans. You also need a good pan. My go to for this is a non-stick crepe pan (a crepe pan has a very shallow rim, making it easier to flip). This is not absolutely necessary, but it is nice. It is usually nice to have two pans on the go at a time, because it can take a while to bake a batch.
Tips
When making the batter, don’t add all the liquid at once. it is easier to get a lump free batter when the batter is thicker. Most recipes indicate that the batter should rest for about 30 minutes, although I have not found this to be necessary for this recipe. The final batter should be thin enough to easily coat the pan with a little tilting of the pan. Don’t be afraid to add a little water to the batter if it feels too thick. You want to very lightly oil the pan between pancakes. I use cooking spray, but you can keep an oiled paper towel handy, and give the pan a quick wipe. The lore says the first pancake will always flop, so don’t panic if it happens! The next one will work.
Serving pannekoek
The traditional way to serve pannekoek is to make a big stack on a plate, and then sprinkle the top one with cinnamon sugar, give it a little squeeze of lemon juice, and roll the pancake.
They can also be filled with savoury fillings, but I am definitely more of a sweet pannekoek person. Also, while other things like chocolate spreads, jam and sauces are great fillings, I feel that is more crepe territory.
Other South African recipes to try
Vegan buttermilk and oat rusks
Vegan pannekoek
Equipment
- crepe pan or other good shallow frying pan
Ingredients
- ½ cup dry mung beans
- 1 cup soy milk to blend with the mung beans
- 2 cup flour
- ¾ tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1¼ cup soy milk to thin the batter
- 2 tsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp coconut oil melted
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Soak the mung beans for at least an hour, or overnight
- In a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt and baking powder.
- Blend the mung beans with the soy milk until smooth (There are two quantities of soy milk in the recipe – the first one is to blend with the mung beans)
- Add the blended mung beans to the flour, and whisk until the batter is lump free.
- Slowly add the rest of the soy milk (listed separately in the ingredient list)
- Add the sugar, vinegar, and melted coconut oil.
- Slowly add the water, whisking to mix.
- You can let the batter rest for 30 minutes at this point, but I don't find that it is necessary with this recipe.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray, or wipe with some paper towel soaked in oil.
- Add a ladleful of batter to the pan, and tilt the pan to allow the batter to cover the entire pan with a thin layer. It should be a little thicker than a crepe. If the pancakes seem too thick, add a little more water to the batter.
- Put the finished pancakes on a plate and keep warm. Keep stacking pancakes until the batter is finished. You may find that the pancakes dissappear while you bake. If that happens, make the eater take a turn at the pan and have a few yourself
- Serve with cinnamon sugar and lemon wedges.
Nutrition
Vegan buttermilk and oat rusks
These vegan buttermilk rusks are packed with oats, currants and raisins. This rusk recipe uses high bran flour to give them lots of fibre. They are the perfect breakfast or anytime snack.
Wait, what are rusks?
Today I learned that Wikipedia lists twenty-three regional variations of rusks. I think the South African rusk has evolved into something special. Wikipedia describes rusks as twice-baked bread dough. This sounds thoroughly unappetizing and isn’t remotely accurate. Rusk dough is a thing unto itself. It is somewhere between bread and cookie dough. A rusk should not be too sweet or rich, though, because you should still be able to convince yourself that you are not eating cookies for breakfast.
In South Africa, rusks (also known as beskuit in Afrikaans) are deeply embedded in our daily lives. If you check into a hotel or guesthouse, there will probably be some rusks at the coffee station. If you walk into an office in the morning, someone will be having a rusk with their morning coffee. On those days that I have to head out at dawn to some remote corner of the country for work, I throw a few rusks into my laptop bag.
How to make vegan rusks
When I started eliminating animal products from my diet, not having rusks was an immediate crisis, and I started experimenting with a rusk recipe. Vegan butter is not commonly available in South Africa, and I despise margarine, so I used coconut oil for some of the fat content in the rusks. I wanted to reduce the coconut oil as much as possible, so I incorporated blended cashew nuts to the recipe that adds lots of buttery flavour and healthier fats.
A combination of soy milk and apple cider vinegar works well for substituting for the buttermilk, but you can use any plant milk you prefer.
The first step is to bake your rusk loaves. At this stage it will look like a tea bread. You will then slice these into rusks. Treat yourself to a wet rusk or two. They are delicious. The cut rusks are dried for several hours in a very low oven.
Vegan buttermilk and oat rusks
Equipment
- Loaf tins
- cookie sheets or racks for drying
- Blender to blend cashews
Ingredients
- 500 g high bran wholewheat flour (Nutty wheat) About 4¼ cups
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 2 cups rolled oats prefer regular, quick cooking will also work
- 1 cup currants raisins or a combination of the two
- 3 tbs flaxmeal
- 1/2 cup soy milk to mix with flax
- 1 3/4 cup soy milk
- 3 tbsp cider vinegar
- 100 g cashews
- 150 g coconut oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/360°F
- Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and oats and currants or raisins in a bowl.
- In a small bowl, combine the flax meal with the warm soy milk and let stand for a few minutes.
- Add the cashews to about two cups water and microwave for a three minutes, and let stand for about five minutes.
- Blend the cashews with the soy milk. I do this in my Nutribullet, but any blender will work. A smooth texture is not that important in this recipe. Add the apple cider vinegar to the milk mixture. You can let this stand for a bit to curdle like buttermilk, but I don’t feel this is necessary.
- Add the sugar and vanilla to the milk mixture. Melt the coconut oil and add this to the same bowl. Also add the flax and soymilk mix.
- Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and oats together. This is the dry mix
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and stir to combine. Don’t overmix. It will form a dough with a muffin-like consistency.
- Divide the dough between two loaf tins. Mine are 10cmm x 23cm (4'' x 10''). Bake at 180°C (360°F) for about 35-40 minutes.
- Let the loaves cool. Slice each loaf into seven slices, and divide each slice vertically into three fingers
- Lay these out on a sheet pan and put into an oven set to 100°C (210 °F). Allow the rusks to dry for several hours (usually 3- 4 in my oven).