Vegan Pastel de Nata Recipe
One of our favourite new recipes straight out of ‘Lazy Cat Kitchen’ in Bristol are these fabulous Portuguese Tarts.
These tasty treats are traditionally made with egg yolks and flaky pastry. In fact they were supposedly first invented by Portuguese monks in the 13th Century. Apparently the monks had studied in France where they had learned the art of delectable pastry making. They also happened to need a way to use up the egg yolks left over from the egg whites they used to starch their clothes.
Here at MoaAlm we are lucky enough to have a washing machine and our vegan ethos means we don’t have many egg yolks hanging about. Perfect for us then that Lazy Cat Kitchen created this amazing vegan version.
They have been devoured by our guests over the past few months. The addictive creme brulee style topping and the addictive flaky pastry is irresistible after a day hiking or snowshoe hiking in the Hohe Tauern National Park.
Why not give them a go this #veganuary
120 ml maple syrup, adjust to taste
125 g soaked cashews
200 g silken tofu
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp vanilla paste
A few pinches of turmeric
2 tsp cornflour dissolved in 1 tsp water
320 g vegan puff pastry
oil, to grease the baking tin
1 tbsp ground cinnamon mixed with 2 tbsp icing sugar (optional)
Place 120 ml of maple syrup and drained cashews in a blender. Process until silky smooth. Add vanilla paste, tofu and lemon and the small pinch of turmeric. Finally when the mixture is smooth, add the dissolved cornflour.
Transfer the mixture to a medium pan and warm gently on the stove, whisking with a wire whisk the entire time. Slowly trickle in the cornflour / cornstarch dissolved in water and carry on mixing to prevent lumps from forming. Allow the mixture to come to a gentle boil and simmer, stirring the entire time, just until it thickens.
Once thickened, take off the heat and allow it to cool down completely.
Heat up the oven to 200° C and grease a 12 hole muffin tin with a small amount of oil. Unroll the sheet of puff pastry, remove a piece of grease-proof paper and tightly roll it back up.
At this point, you may want to sprinkle the unrolled sheet with a mixture of cinnamon and icing sugar to give the pastry itself some sweetness. We make the decision when cooking on how sweet we want our treat to be that day!
Cut it into 12 equal parts. Dust the working surface with a little bit of flour. Place the first segment on the working surface, cut side down and gently flatten the coil with a rolling pin into a large, thin circle. Roll the pastry fairly thin, it expands a lot during baking. Place the circle of pastry over the muffin hole and gently push it into the hole, making sure the pastry fits in snuggly all the way to the edges of the base. Cut the excess pastry off with a sharp knife.
Fill the pastry with custard, leaving a gap of at least 1 cm at the end of the pastry, as the custard will rise as it bakes.
Place the tray into the hot oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Allow the tarts to cool down before removing them from the tin.
When they have cooled, dust the tarts with icing sugar, place them under a hot grill for a few minutes. Watch them closely as they can burn easily.
Dust them with cinnamon icing sugar before serving if you wish.
For more Vegan cooking inspiration, check out the food section of our website.
We would love to get some feedback and #moaalmretreat if you try these Portuguese Tarts or any of our other recipes!