Ravioli and Custard

17th January 2009

One of the good things about working with another vegan is we get to make each other lunch. No one else at home is vegan so while sometimes they will share a meal with me, it always feels more gratifying when you know it’s for someone who will really appreciate some vegan home cooking. Today I rustled up some ravioli for Sasha and I. I was originally inspired by this recipe here, but never quite got round to trying it out (gyoza skins in my house get used to make gyoza seeing as it is one of my absolute fav things!). Sash had some spinach dumpling skins kicking around in her freezer already so passed them on to me. You can buy gyoza/wonton/dumpling skins at Oriental supermarkets, but make sure you read the ingredients as not all brands are vegan.

I made the filling out of mushroom and cream cheese. Now I have tried my best to like vegan cream cheese I have really have but  it always tastes too sweet? Today I tried Pure but unfortunately it’s joined Toffutti and Sheese on my ‘no thanks’ list. My last hopes lie on a tub of Provamel waiting in my fridge, otherwise I think raw/nut cheese spreads are the way for me.

I also tried out a custard cupcake recipe using Bird’s Custard Powder (thanks Twitter people!!). Don’t ask me how it works, it’s basically just cornflour but when made up it tastes soooooo good! The powder is added to the cake batter to make a crumbly textured cupcake and a dollop of custard is put in the middle of the batter before baking for gooey loveliness! I think it would work really well with some fruit,  I still want to play around with the recipe but if you fancy giving it a go here it is!

Custard Cupcake

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 90g vegan margarine
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp flax seeds whisked up till frothy with 1 tbsp water
• 3/4 cup self-raising flour
• 1/4 cup custard powder
• 2 tbsp ‘milk’

Custard for filling

• 1 tbsp custard powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup ‘milk’
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

1. Make the custard.
2. Preheat oven to 180ºC, line baking tray with cases.
3. Cream together the margaine and the sugar, add the vanilla, flax seed mixture, sifted flour, custard powder and milk.
4. Divide half the mixture among the cases. Top with custard then cover with remaining cake mixture.
5. Bake for 18 mins.
6. Carry on the theme and top with custard flavoured frosting!