Vegan Leek Quiche with a Whole Wheat Crust

I hope you're finding a moment here and there to hit pause on the daily madness and take a look around.

Have you noticed it's already summer?

Look how beautiful it is outside: that golden summer light in the early evening, summer fruit filling the supermarket shelves, and the sea practically begging me to jump in for a swim.

And what does that mean?

It means the most beautiful holiday of the year is here: the harvest festival.

Look at me, turning into a poet just in time for Shavuot (the Jewish harvest holiday). Admit it—you got a little misty-eyed. 🙂

So, in honor of my new poetry career—and Shavuot—here's a wonderful vegan leek quiche. It's easy, delicious, and made with ingredients you can find at just about any supermarket. Oh, and it won't blow your grocery budget.

The crust is made with whole wheat flour and olive oil, giving you a nice dose of fiber and healthy fats that hold up well to baking.

The filling gets its creamy texture from tofu, which provides protein and calcium without a lot of fat.

A few pointers before we get started:

Don't let homemade dough scare you off. I'll walk you through the crust, step by step. It really is a piece of cake. Or, well, quiche. 🙂

I use soft silken tofu—the one in the red package. If you can't find silken tofu, try a slightly firmer tofu, like the one from Kadita (an Israeli tofu brand). And if regular tofu is all you've got, that'll work, too.

One heads-up: this quiche has a bold onion flavor. If onions aren't your thing, you might want to sit this one out. I promise to share another quiche recipe very soon.

How should you serve it?

This recipe fits a small, 20 cm (8-inch) quiche pan and makes 8 slices.

Each slice contains:

Vegan Leek Quiche

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Yield 8 slices

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar Silan (date syrup) or another sweetener you like works, too.
• 2 cups whole wheat flour Rye or spelt flour also works. *Don't use gluten-free flours, such as lentil flour.*
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup dried chickpeas or beans For weighing down the crust during baking—not for eating.

For the Filling

• 1 large leek
• 1 large onion
• 350 g (12.3 oz) silken tofu (the red package) Or use regular tofu plus a little soy milk.
• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic

Instructions

1. Start with the crust.
2. In a deep mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and sugar.
3. Add the olive oil and boiling water, and stir until the dough comes together evenly. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Make the filling:
5. Cut the onion in half.
6. Slice one half and sauté in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until browned. Set aside.
7. In a food processor, blend the silken tofu (or regular tofu with a little extra soy milk), the soy milk, garlic clove, and remaining onion half until smooth. Set aside.
8. Once the dough has chilled for about an hour—lucky dough, getting all that downtime—roll it out on a work surface to a thickness of 0.5 cm (about 3/16 inch).
9. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
10. Fit the dough into a well-greased quiche pan.
11. My trick for transferring the dough in one piece: gently roll it around the rolling pin, then unroll it over the pan.
    
12. Trim away the excess dough around the edges.
    
13. Prick the dough in a few places with a fork.
14. Line the crust with parchment paper and add the dried chickpeas on top. They weigh down the dough so it stays thin instead of puffing up.
15. Bake for 10 minutes.
16. Remove from the oven and discard the chickpeas and parchment paper.
17. Assemble the quiche: spread the sautéed onion over the crust, then pour the tofu mixture on top.
18. Slice the leek into rounds and arrange them over the filling.
    
19. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and bake for about 40 minutes.
20. Let cool completely before removing from the pan.