Flan de Coco (Coconut Flan)

Flan is one of the most popular desserts in Mexican food culture. It’s an egg, cream and sugar recipe that has traveled continents and time and still remains relatively intact in terms of flavor and texture. It’s served at most special occasions and is on the menu throughout most of LA’s Mexican restaurants. There are now more flavor variations like citrus-flavored flan, rompope flan or even chocoflan. For this flan recipe, we’re making a coconut-flavored base and using egg replacer to give that rich egg flavor that makes a flan, flan.

Flan de Coco (Coconut Flan) [Vegan]

Ingredients

For the Syrup:

• 6 tablespoons (85 g) raw sugar
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) water

For the Flan:

• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) unsweetened coconut cream
• 2 tablespoons (16 g) agar powder
• 2 tablespoons (10 g) egg replacer, such as Follow Your Heart VeganEgg
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) ice-cold water
• 2 tablespoons (32 g) strained and squeezed extra-firm tofu
• 1/4 cup (45 g) raw sugar
• 1 tablespoons (15 ml) vanilla
• Pinch of turmeric, for color
• Pinch of salt

For Serving:

• 1/4 cup (8 g) marigold petals, or another edible flower

Preparation

For the Syrup:

1. To make the syrup, melt down the sugar and water in a small pot until the crystals dissolve. Add the syrup to the bottom of a 6-inch (15-cm) mold or 3 small (2-inch [5-cm]) molds for individual servings.

For the Flan:

1. To make the flan, add the coconut milk, coconut cream and agar powder to a saucepan. Let it sit for 10 minutes, and then bring to a simmer while whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to low, whisking until all the agar powder completely dissolves. Take the pan off of the heat and set aside.
2. Combine the egg replacer with the ice-cold water in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk until the mixture is completely smooth. Set aside.
3. Place the tofu, sugar, vanilla, turmeric and salt in blender and blend until completely smooth. Add the blended tofu mixture to the hot coconut and agar mixture and whisk to combine. Slowly pour the coconut-tofu mixture into the egg replacer bowl while whisking. Whisk until completely smooth. Pour the mixture into the flan mold(s) over the syrup. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. To remove from the baking dish, dip into hot water for 15 seconds, then flip onto a platter. Serve the flan on a platter and top with edible flower petals in a ring around the edge of the flan.

 

Notes

Chef’s Note: If you can’t find edible flowers, you can use toasted coconut shreds as a garnish.

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/flan-de-coco-coconut-flan-vegan/