Classic desserts go vegan

Gen-Y’s fascination for clean, healthy eating has also had a trickle down effect on the range of sweet treats now available on your dessert platter. While a few years ago, vegan food was hard to come by, and was available in a few, select eateries and stores, it’s now increasingly becoming the new norm, and apart from starters and mains, you can also indulge in sweet delicacies made of ‘no animal produce.’

From kheer to Crème brûlée

While most chefs were earlier reluctant to throw their toque into the creative ring, more of them are now willing to test the waters. As a result, even classic desserts like the Crème brûlée are not off-limits. Chef Alok Verma, executive sous chef, JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu, who has worked with tofu to create his version of the classic French dessert says, “Nowadays, people are adopting veganism for health, environmental and ethical reasons. Hence, this has created a client profile that needs to be catered to. The simplest way of creating a vegan version of any dessert is to replace milk and other animal produce that go into it, with non-dairy substitutes such as coconut cream, soy milk or almond milk, which works perfectly well.” 

Chef Alok says that’s his experience of working on vegan desserts has made him realise that even the most complex looking dessert can be turned into a vegan sweet treat  by putting in a little thought. A sentiment that chef Yogendra Adep, chef de cuisine, Luna, The St Regis Mumbai, shares and agrees with as he believes that creating a vegan dessert requires both application of mind and patience. 

“The intricate steps and the list of ingredient involved with vegan cooking makes it challenging as most of the vegan desserts often require a lot of time for soaking, grinding or mixing,” he shares and states there’s no quick fix, and using alternates may just result in the cookie literally and figuratively crumbling right before your eyes.

Avoiding a recipe for disaster

Chef Vinod Garde, corporate chef, Sid Hospitality warns against swapping traditional ingredients with vegan alternates one-for-one and hoping for the best sometimes might not work. According to him the best way to convert a traditional recipe into a vegan one, is to go with products and ingredients that work well and have tested ratios. That’s how he was able to give a spin to the traditional desi favourite kheer, by adding coconut milk, sago and seasonal mangoes. He says, “One of the biggest challenges a chef faces while trying to adapt a classic dessert to a vegan mould is that there will be comparisons with the original in terms of taste, appearance and texture. We can’t help but seek the original taste that our palate has grown accustomed to. This comparison creates a block, not allowing us to enjoy the dessert that’s been placed in front of us.” 

So, coconut oil replaces butter, coconut/almond milk replaces cow’s milk or other dairy sourced from animals and vegetable fats from nuts and coconuts are added in to get the right consistency according to chef Abhishek Giri, Raasta.

Hence, the challenge that chefs face is manifold. On one hand they have to ensure that the taste does not vary drastically or the dessert will fall flat, while on the other they have to find the right substitutes for the original ingredients. Chef Aniket Kadam at Estella, sums things up by sharing, “When working with classic flavours, you have to ensure that you do not alter the taste, stay true to the classic flavours and yet give it a vegan twist.”