Making Neopets Food: Cabbage Quiche

     For full clarity, right at the offset, this is a no-egg recipe so it will be suitable for Neopians on a plant based diet and delicious and nutritious for all. There are lots of vegan quiche recipes out there but this one is specially adapted to create a version that looks as close to the Cabbage Quiche found in Neopian Health Foods.

     Before we start, there will be a few stages to this recipe as you can create a version with purchased pastry or make your own for the full ‘made from scratch’ effect. It’s not a cake, it’s cooking, so exact proportions and ingredients are much much more flexible. If you’re not an intuitive chef then this might not be the recipe for you as it’s a little bit chaotic, but I hope you can give it a try - or just read about it - to humour me.

     The Pastry

     This will make a savoury crumbly pastry that is perfect for a quiche - but honestly it could be substituted for a flaky pastry or pre-made pie crust if that’s what you have to hand. Also it requires use of a food processor to fully combine the ingredients so there might be a more suitable alternative out there that works with what equipment you have to hand. This recipe can also be cooked crustless in a baking paper lined tin, though in my opinion the pastry really elevates it.

     PASTRY INGREDIENTS

     1.5 cups all purpose flour (aka plain flour)

     1 tsp sugar

     A pinch of salt

     0.25 cup of butter, cold and cut into cubes (I use a vegan block butter, ideally not a spreadable butter/margarine)

     0.25 cup vegetable shortening, cold from the fridge (if it’s not already shredded then it needs breaking up a bit before adding)

     Optional - green food colouring

     3 or 4 tbsp very cold water

     PASTRY PROCESS

     Starting with the flour, sugar and salt, blend together using a food processor for a few seconds just to distribute everything evenly.

     Add in the butter and shortening and give it a blitz for about 10 seconds more. At this point it will be fairly well mixed so you can add in a few drops of your food colouring if you are using it. Another 5 seconds should combine the colour in.

     At this stage you need to add the cold water in, slowly, while the machine is spinning.

     Once it begins to form more of a ball, turn off the food processor and remove the dough.

     Roll together to combine into a solid ball of dough before rolling out with a rolling pin onto a flour dusted flat surface.

     When it is even and at least the diameter of your tin (approx 30cm) you can transfer it into the tin and push it up against the edges, trimming off any overhanging pastry with a knife.

     At this point you can chill in the fridge until later use or get to pre-baking the crust.

     Pre-baking the pastry

     Once your pastry is in the tin, add a layer of baking paper and your baking beans or rice as applicable. If you haven’t blind baked a pastry before there will be various advice around about how best to do this. I just use rice and give it about 25 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees celsius in a fan oven.

     THE FILLING - INGREDIENTS

     Onion, chopped

     Garlic, crushed

     Spinach leaves

     Broccoli, chopped small

     Courgette, grated or finely sliced

     Potato, grated or finely sliced

     Firm Tofu

     Chickpeas (1 can)

     Black Salt (Kala Namak)

     Nutritional Yeast

     Milk (soy, oat, whatever floats your boat)

     Green Cabbage (this is more for decoration to make it look like the Cabbage Quiche that Neopians know and love)

     FILLING PROCESS

     You can see that I haven’t actually included exact amounts of the ingredients above - that’s because it’s a little bit flexible and you can kind of adapt it to your own whims, but also different tofus come in a variety of package sizes. I made a version of this recently where instead of a can of chickpeas, I just added the end of two tubs of hummus from the fridge. Use up what you have. Make it green with peas instead of spinach. Adapt!

     In a pan, brown the onions, add the garlic for a minute or so.

     Then add the broccoli, courgette, spinach and potatoes then stick a lid on while it all wilts and cooks.

     Meanwhile, in a blender, add a package of firm tofu, a decent splash of milk, nutritional yeast, black salt if you are using it (it’s actually pink and smells like sulphur!), a can of chickpeas WITH their liquid and honestly any other spices or herbs that you want to. Blend it up!

     Transfer all of this to a big bowl and mix the cooked veg into the blended tofu.

     Add this mixture into your pastry base.

     Steam a few cabbage leaves then arrange them on top of the quiche.

     Bake the whole thing at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

     Ta-dah - a wonderful Cabbage Quiche.

     And the rest?

     When you look at it, this quiche contains all the kinds of food you need, but sometimes eating just one thing for a meal can be a little bit less than exciting. So, what could you serve with a gigantic green quiche?

     Here are my suggestions:

     Coleslaw. And I’m not just saying this because it’s even more cabbage. It’s honestly so simple and quite refreshing to eat alongside a quiche. Just finely slice or grate white and red cabbage and a carrot or two, combine with mayo and voila!

     Consider a potato salad with boiled new potatoes and spring onions.

     Another option that I would favour would be potato wedges - either from a regular white potato or even a sweet potato. Or make a splash and do both types of potato AND roast carrots alongside them for a trio of colourful sides.

     Then, afterwards, why not try a Cabbage Sorbet!

     (Disclaimer: This is sort of a joke as I haven’t done any experimentation or research on this one yet, but you can still find an example in my Gallery and it’s very likely that it’s entirely possible to create. Though I would suggest probably making it in a way that doesn’t involve mud or Vein Cabbage.)