These are vegan 'eggs' that look and taste almost identical to real eggs.
Some credit
for this recipe needs to go to Maresa's vegan deviled eggs which is where I got the recipe for the
‘egg’ white. They made some really nice vegan devilled eggs. I didn’t want
devilled eggs though. I wanted something that looked and tasted like runny
yolked eggs.
I also don’t
like things with too many hard to find or expensive ingredients. This recipie
has the bare minimum of these ingredients necessary. The three main unusual
ingredients I used are:
Indian black salt: Also known as Kala Namak. This is a
special rock salt that contains a very small amount of iron and sulphur (which
give it its distinctive color and smell). It is used in indian cooking and you
should be able to find it in any good Indian spice store. This is really
important to give the eggs their egginess, (however if you don’t mind them not
really tasting or smelling like eggs this can be left out). (make sure you buy
Kala Namak NOT black sea salt which is a completely different thing). The quantities I use give a very subtle eggy flavour don't use too much.
Agar Agar: This is a seaweed extract and comes
as either a powder or flakes (powder is a lot easier to work with). This is
what sets the egg ‘white’ into a Jelly consistency. This cannot really be
substituted for anything. Agar is unique as a Jelly as it will set at room
temperature (and harder than gelatine) then can be heated to almost boiling
point before it liquefies again. Most Asian shops carry this as it is a key
component in a lot of Asian cooking (I got mine in the same place I got the
black salt) you can also find it in health food shops (but it is often a lot
more expensive). Gelatine will not work
for this recipe (firstly because it is not vegan, but if you are making these
because you cannot have eggs rather than for ideological reasons that may not
matter) but also gelatin melts at too low a temperature thus the eggs cannot be
heated up.
Nutritional
Yeast: This product is available in health food stores. It imparts a strong
savoury flavour and is also very high in proteins and nutrients (particularly B
vitamins). This can be substituted for low salt stock powder (although it will
make the eggs a bit more salty and will impart a slightly different flavour).
This recipe will make approx. 8-10 eggs. It will take about 3 hours, but most of that time
is waiting for things to freeze/ cool, actual working time is about 10-15min.
Equipment required
Blender
Ice cube
bags (preferably) or Ice cube trays
Cling wrap
Pot
Plate
8-10 small
bowls
“Yolk”
1/2 teaspoon
nutritional yeast
1/8 teaspoon
Black salt powder
1/4 cup
walnut pieces
1/4 teaspoon
tumeric powder
1/2 cup
water
‘Whites’
4 cups
unsweetened rice or almond milk (I have also used oat milk which is quite nice just a little sweet)
1/2 teaspoon
black salt powder
4 teaspoons
agar
Step 1: Make and freeze yolks
Blend
ingredients together in a good blender. You want them really smooth so blend
for a long time (and preferably use a bullet blender).
Pour the
mixture into the ice cube bags or an ice cube tray (this will be the shape of
your yolks so it is better if they are rounded rather than square).
Step 2: Agar layer
Line 10
small saucers with cling wrap and place to
the side. Get two flat dinner plates and put to the side.
You will be
making 3/4 the whites now and the rest after the yolks are frozen.
In blender
put 3 cups of rice milk, a bit over 1/4 teaspoon of black salt powder and 3 teaspoons agar
(ie 3/4 your whites ingredients).
Blend until agar is incorporated into the milk (If you are using a smaller
blender use 1 cup milk and add the rest of the milk after blending).
(if you prefer you can just slowly add the agar/salt to the milk while stirring constantly, since I already had the blender out I did it with the blender)
Once boiled
take off the heat and pour a small amount of the liquid into your two plates (you want to cover the plate in about a 3-4mm layer of liquid. Then put put the pot in the sink and stir constantly for a few minutes until the mixture is not so boiling hot (Ie no steam rising) and gets just
slightly thicker (you can put some cold water in the sink to speed things up).
At this point pour mixture into the moulds and put the molds into the fridge.
If you
misjudge things and it sets hard before getting to the moulds just heat it up
again and redo.
Step 3: putting together
After the
yolks have frozen (about 2 or 3 hours) it is time to start putting together
(the agar should be well and truly set by then).
Firstly get
your egg white saucers out of the fridge and spoon out a small depression(for the
yolk to sit).
Put the rest
of your egg white mixture in the blender and put it on the stove to heat up (as
you did in step 2).
While this
is heating up get your egg yolks out of the freezer. Place the
yolks on the small depression in the whites (make sure you take the plastic off first)
Now get your two plates of agar.
Cut a 8-10round circles in the agar large enough to cover your yolks (with about 2cm extra around the edge). I suggest you do one first before cutting them all.
(this provides a barrier between the yolk and the
hot agar stopping it melting the yolk and turning yellow).
Now return
to your hot agar cool it as you did previously in the sink mixing constantly.
As soon as it is not steamy hot gently pour into your molds making sure to cover the edges of the agar sheet completely.
Step 4: heating
This should be done right before serving
After the
eggs are set take them out of the fridge and out of the cling wrap.
Place the
eggs in cold water and put on the stove. Heat over a low to medium heat and watch
closely. You want to slowly heat them up to almost boiling point (watch and
take them out as soon as the water starts getting steamy hot and almost boiling). You may want
to do one to start with to get the hang of it as it would be a bit sad if you
ruin all the eggs just because you didn't watch and they melted into the water.
End note
can do this as a dessert recipe by using half a mango and half a cup of apple juice blended for the yolks and using sweetened almond/ coconut milk and no black salt for the whites.
I have served this with balsalmic onions, bread (specifically a bread with no soy/ dairy I checked) and my homemade chili/ chocolate and blackstrap molasses barbecue sauce (i might write the recipe fo that later).