Sweet Vanilla Vla Crepes
This one's for you Indo people out there! Remember "crepes gulung isi vla" that your mom used to make all the time? (at least my mom does) This tastes just like it, BUT VEGAN! It's so amazing that a raw vegan vla can taste so close to the real thing - without all the dairy and refined sugar!
Truth is, this was an accidental recipe. My initial plan was to make a mousse out of young coconut meat, but it turned out to runny and I was so confused. I've blended coconut meat once before and it rendered a fluffy, thick mousse! Its texture was too saucy to hold itself up like a mousse and I might have poured a little too much liquid in the blender! Oh the dreaded runny mousse.. I stared helplessly at that runny mousse as I sip on my coconut water (Thank God for coconut water!). My mind was still fixed on making an instant coconut mousse so I tried to fix its texture and strain it. I thought that maybe I didn't dry the flesh enough and must've poured in too much of coconut water in it, so straining should work!
3 hours later and no sign of luck on a mousse. It only strained a little bit of the coconut water that got in the blender and the meat itself was jelly like in texture. Turns out the coconut meat was too soft and still too young and not firm enough to hold itself!
BUT! The texture of that blended coco flesh reminded me of the milk + cornstarch vla that my mom makes all the time to top off puddings and fill inside crepes. So naturally, I started adding the flavours I know are in a typical vla and voila: it's a raw vegan vanilla vla! It doesn't even taste like coconut AT ALL! Amazing. That runny mousse was a blessing in disguise after all.
Then I whipped up my go-to crepes recipe and tadaaaa! It's Les crepes pour le vegans!
It's extremely nourishing for your body too! With the sauce being raw vegan, all the nutrients are not lost in heat. Plus, I added sweet leaf extract; a powerhouse of protein, iron, vitamin A, B, C & K and is a dream come true for people with anemia and breastfeeding moms! I remember my trainer telling me to load up on spinach and sweet leaf to help me build up my stamina and load up my iron intake, he told me to eat 8 big bunches of leafy greens in one sitting! (Disclaimer: There was lots of munching involved...)
Vegan Sweet Vanilla Vla Crepes
Serves 1
Ingredients
Crepes
6 tbsp oat flour (grind your own by blending rolled oats in a blender)
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water)
3/4 cup (150ml) milk of choice
1/2 tsp vanilla
Vanilla Vla
Meat from 1 young coconuts (pat dry)
1 tsp Herbilogy's sweet leaf extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum
2 tbsp coconut sugar or 4 pitted dates
Method
1. Make your vla sauce- simply blend all the ingredients until creamy. If it's too thin, strain under a fine mesh strainer until all the liquid has gone.
1. Sift the oat flour a bowl and add in the flax + water and milk and whisk until smooth. Don't let batter sit for too long.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium heat and very lightly grease with oil.
4. Scoop the batter onto the pan, then tilt it and rotate to create a thin and even surface.
5. Cook the crepes for about 2 minutes on one side until golden brown, then flip the crepes and cook for another 30 seconds. Repeat until all the batter has gone.
6. After all the crepes are cooked, fill each crepe with 1 tbsp of vla in the center and then fold it in half.
7. Serve as is or top with your favorite fruits!
