Oats & Wholewheat Eggless Vegetable Quiche

Quiche is one of those exotic European dishes baked with cheese, eggs and milk mixture which can make a very filling and healthy meal in itself. And home baked Quiche has an advantage of adding extra veggies and also curbing those fats which makes it quite heavy. Simple & easy to make, a Quiche can adopt various forms with the savory to sweet fillings you add in the baked pastry. The eggs used in the filling gives Quiche a light and fluffy texture, but believe me this egg less version tastes as good as if not the exact version, of the French Quiche

Quiche is an open pie, the filling normally takes very little time to make than the pastry or the crust. I love this dish for the simple fact that I can give it a new look every time that I bake one, with the vegetables of my choice. And here is the Oats, wholewheat and spinach eggless Quiche baked in a scrumptious & healthy treat for you!

Ingredients;

(serves 2)

For the Crust

1 cup Wholewheat flour
1/2 cup Oats
1/3 cup Olive oil/melted butter
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 cup water/milk

Method;

For the Crust: Slightly dry roast the oats for a few minutes and grind it along with all the dry ingredients.

Shh… I was too lazy to roast the oats and just ground it with other ingredient Can’t make out the difference except a few oats sitting pretty in the mix.

Take the ground mix in a large vessel and make a well in it. Add the olive oil or butter into it. Rub the whole flour mix with light hand till it resembles bread crumbs, like the one seen in the picture above.

Add water or milk as a binding agent. Make a hard dough, increase the quantity of liquid if you are not getting a firm dough.

Take a pie dish and grease it with oil. Roll out the above made dough into a big circle and spread it in the dish. Trim the extra dough which is coming out of the dish. Peirce the pastry shell with fork to ensure a crispy bake.

Bake the pastry shell for about 10-15 minutes at 230°C till the crust is baked and is golden brown from outside. You can blind bake the crust for better results.

For the Filling

1 cup of shredded Spinach
1/2 cup of color bell pepper
1 onion
2 cloves of Garlic
1 tsp red chilly flakes
1/2 tsp dry herbs
1/2 cup Tofu
2 tbsp Olive oil
Salt as desired
1/2 tsp of fresh black pepper
1/2 cup of Cheddar cheese
1 tbsp Milk

For the Filling:  Peel and slice onion, dice the capsicum. Wash and shred the spinach.  Crush the garlic cloves or dice it finely. Heat oil in a wok and saute the sliced onion & the crushed garlic.

Add the sliced capsicum and cook for 1 minute on medium heat. Add the shredded spinach & salt and cook for another 1 minute. Take the filling out from the stove and cool it a little.

The liquid you see in the picture above is the water released while cooking the spinach. Don’t worry it will all be taken care of by the oven!

Crumble the Tofu and mix it with the 1 tbsp of  milk and add it to the cooked spinach mix. Grate the cheese.

Assembling the Quiche:  Pour the cooked spinach mix over the pre baked tart shell. Sprinkle the chilly flakes and crushed pepper over the spread.  And lastly add the grated cheese on top of the assembled Quiche.

Bake the Quiche for 40-50 minutes at 190°C or till done. Cool it for 10 -15 minutes before slicing the Quiche.

Notes;

Add mushrooms for another scrumptious quiche version.
Herbs can be avoided if you don’t have in hand. Thyme and Basil gives a very flavorful Quiche.
I have baked the same version with cottage cheese also and found it equally delicious.
Discard the hard stems of spinach and then shred it.
Cool the quiche before slicing it.

Quiche is one dish, which looks complicated but is quite easy to bake. Am sure you will love this, once you get to bake one for yourself. And what better way to add wholegrain and veggies in your kids’ menu than a decadent vegetable Quiche!

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