Vegan Oyster Mushroom Quiche or Keesh as hubby calls it..

What do you do when you have a ton of fresh oyster mushroom? On a recent trip to the Farmer's Market in JB, I was greeted by the sight of fresh, really fresh, white, oyster mushrooms going for 3 trays at RM10. That's less than $5 in Singapore! Upon bringing back home the trays, I realised that the three trays weighed about a kg! So, I set about thinking of how to use up these delectable mushrooms and decided to make a mushroom quiche. Now, I'm not much of a quiche person - the only time I had quiche pre-vegan was  about 7 years ago and I never ate it after that. My mum, being typically Indian, does not dabble with cheese and pastry and I never liked rich Western food anyway.

I had seen a lot of vegan quiche recipes online and though I was tempted, I was very worried about how it would turn out. Nevertheless, I had ever experimented with silken tofu and was sure this recipe that I concocted would be edible. In actual fact, the quiche turned out pretty good, and it set (more importantly!) and I would change only two things about this recipe - make it more spicy and also blind bake the dough. My advice to anyone who wants to try this recipe is to increase the spice level by adding chilli or more black pepper. 

I also apologise for this pathetic photo. We were rushing out for this event and I just didn't have time to set up for a good photo. 

Oyster Mushroom Quiche

For Filling

1 tablespoon olive oil

100g shallots, sliced finely

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

200g oyster mushroom, diced

300g water packed chinese tofu (its firmer than silken tofu)

1/2 teaspoon salt

60ml water

3 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon tahini

1 tablespoon corn starch

pinch of basil and thyme

pepper to taste

For Pastry

250g flour

1 teaspoon vinegar

100ml water

50ml olive oil

Method:

1) In a pan, add the olive oil and over low heat cook the shallots (about 20 -30 mins. I used this time to prepare the other ingredients)

2) When the shallots are cooked and browned, add the garlic. Saute until fragrant.

3) Add the mushroom and cook until soft and nearly cooked. Remove from heat.

4) Blend together the remaining ingredients for the filling until smooth.

5) Add the cooled mushroom mixture to the blended mixture. Adjust seasoning to taste.

6)Mix together the pastry ingredients. Add more or less water as needed. Roll out the pastry.

7) Grease an 8 inch removal bottom tart pan with olive oil. Cover the pan with the pastry and press in the sides and remove air pockets if there any.

8) In a 180 degree oven, bake blind for 10 mins.

9) Pour the mixture into the partially baked crust and bake again for about 40 minutes at 160 degrees until done. (the top should start to brown and it should not wobble)

10) Remove from the oven, let it cool and slowly scrape the sides with a knife to loosen the quiche. Serve hot or let it rest before serving.