The perfect vegan omelette
Wow – I can’t believe how long I’ve been away!?!? But I’m back! 🙂
I started this blog almost exactly one year ago. After having worked for 10 years (just writing that freaks me out – TEN YEARS!) at a job that I never found truly satisfying, the smallish Swedish company I worked for was acquired by an American mega-company, and together with the vast majority of my colleagues – I was laid off. I decided there and then, that I wanted to work with something I loved, deeply believed in and that would hopefully make some kind of difference. And so, I started blogging about vegan food, showing people how beautiful it was, telling them how delicious it was, showing YOU how to make wonderful, healthy, cruelty-free dishes.
While my ambition was always to turn this into something profitable, something that I could maybe even live on. I gave myself 1 year, and acknowledged that even if I had to turn to something else after that year of blogging, at least I’d have done my part in spreading the vegan word. But then, it happened. A good friend told me that a local café was looking for a vegan chef. I nervously wrote to them, knowing I had no real restaurant experience. I was interviewed the day after and started working 3 days later. And now I get to do something I love every single day – and get paid for it!
While that has meant that I haven’t been able to blog as much as I’d like to, I’m back with some new-found energy. And more importantly for you, with a new recipe that you guys and girls are just gonna love! The café that I work at is not only 100% vegan, it’s gluten free as well! This is a challenge for me, because I love seitan, bread, and seitan on bread! 😀 But I’m learning a lot. And one thing that I learned recently while baking some gluten-free pita bread, is that Xanthan gum is the sh*t! Sorry, but it really is!
Gluten is a natural binding agent. Eggs are too. Without either one of them, gluten-free vegan baking can get mighty tricky! Vegan omelettes, since they are usually made using chickpea flour (along with other ingredients) have a tendency to be more crêpe-like. Any of you that follow me here, on Instagram or on Facebook, know that I love breakfast and brunch. So I have been playing with the recipe for some time now. And finally, using a triple chickpea attack together with Xanthan gum – I struck omelette gold!
The appearance, flavor and consistency of this awesome breakfast/brunch dish has, in my humble opinion, resulted in the perfect vegan omelette! Don’t be fooled by the thickness and stickiness of the batter. I’ve tried thinning it out on several occasions, but have found that thicker is better. So go grab yourself some chickpeas in every shape and form, and some Xanthan gum – and get cookin’!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (ca ½ dl) – chickpea flour
- ½ cup (1 dl) – plant-based cream (Or the thickest plant milk you have access to.)
- 3 Tbsps (45 ml) – aquafaba (chickpea brine)
- 2 Tbsps (30 ml) – chickpeas, mashed
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) – nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp (5 ml) – kala namak (aka black salt)
- 1 tsp (5 ml) – turmeric
- ½ tsp (2.5 m) – baking powder
- ½ - 1 tsp (2.5 - 5 ml) – Xanthan gum
- Optional: Finely chopped onion, peppers, and grated vegan cheese
Instructions
- Add the first four ingredients to a bowl and whisk with a handmixer.
- Add the rest of the dry ingredients and whisk again. (The mixture should be quite thick, but if you can, avoid adding any water
- Stir in any optional ingredients like peppers and onions.
- Oil a non-stick frying pan or flat cast iron pan and pre-heat on medium high (I find that getting the pan quite hot BEFORE adding the omelette mix reduces the chance of it sticking.)
- Pour and spread the mix (it will be quite thick) so that it covers the entire frying pan, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Carefully flip the omelet and cook for another 5 minutes. (Depending on how thick your omelette is you may or may not want to fold it like a traditional omelette.)
- Serves 2. Or 1 hungry person!
Laurel February 8, 2017 (10:58 pm)
This vegan omelette looks INSANE! So light and fluffy. I will be brunchin with this on Saturday!
Chris February 9, 2017 (9:09 am)
Hi Laurel, Thanks a lot! It really is delicious and the consistency is wonderful. Hope you enjoy it!
Lee | LifeNaturalee February 9, 2017 (1:43 pm)
So glad that you’re back 🙂 I truly love reading your posts and trying your recipes. And I do understand the feeling about your work and dedicating to your passion. I’m really happy for you and your new job filled with passion for vegan cooking and cooking challenges! If only that café was a bit closer, I bet I would visit frequently! Thank you too for sharing this recipe! I too have been playing around with the chickpea flour+brine+ other mixed options, but I never actually used Xanthan Gum… I guess I’ve always had some mixed feelings about it! I’ll add it next time, though 🙂
Chris February 10, 2017 (3:44 pm)
Hi Lee! And thank you SO much! It means a lot to me to hear how you and others like my posts and recipes and helps motivate me to keep going and create more. I really enjoy bloggin, writing and taking photos too – I just need to find the time to do them all and make some money at the same time! 🙂 Hope you get a chance to try making the omelette – I’ve been eating quite a few of them lately. I’ve also been making lots of different soups and gluten free bread at work so I hope to post some of these soon. Thanks again! 🙂
Mary Lynne Ashley May 22, 2017 (5:10 pm)
Wanted to let you know I just made this omelet this morning, and I liked it! (I’ve made a string of yucky recipes from various vegan blogs recently, so I didn’t have high hopes.) One question I had as I was going through the recipe is if there is a reason the second batch of dry ingredients are added after the liquids instead of before. I was stressing out that they wouldn’t get mixed in evenly, but I did do it in the order you listed, and it turned out fine. I was also worried that the mashed up chick peas would give it a yucky texture, but they didn’t. When I first flipped over the omelet I thought, “This doesn’t look like the picture at all,” but found that the second side did have that same texture as in your picture, so if I were serving it to someone, I would definitely use that second cooked side on the outside to make it look more like a “regular” omelet. I cooked up some mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes and green onions and put them inside the cooked and folded omelet. Also, I used flax milk, which is definitely not thick, and a teaspoon of xanthan gum, and the thickness of the batter was fine.
I really like your blog (the look, how it’s written, etc.) and thought, “This blog is somehow different from all the other blogs I’ve been reading. I wonder if she has a picture of herself,” and then I saw your picture. Ha!
Anyway, keep up the great work and keep posting! Now I just have to find more recipes that use garbanzo bean flour and xanthan gum….
Chris October 23, 2017 (7:16 am)
Thanks for writing! I must apologize for the )very) late reply. I’ve been working non-stop these days, but really need to give my blog some new attention 🙂 As for the mixing order – I just find that the first ingredients need a bit more mixing than the others. As with pancakes, you don’t want to overmix in order to keep them light and fluffy. And yes, the second side does look better! I believe this is due to the heat of the pan which “evens out” after being on the burner for some time – so the second side is a more slow, even cook.
So happy to hear that you think the blog is different, and, I guess i am too! Haha. Thanks so much again for writing!
/Chris
natalie May 30, 2018 (3:18 am)
Well, I think you have single handedly answered a yearning for ‘my’ idea of a vegan omelette. Lovely site. Thank you.
Made the walnut burgers for dinner tonight. They were wonderful. And, you are right; making vegan food is very easy and nutritional when you make the time for it!
I remember reading a vegan cookbook that said one should always have a bowl of soaking cashews in the fridge. I’m not that disciplined, but it is one of the most versatile ingredients… (quick and easy for sauces, desserts etc.)
Chris June 8, 2018 (6:44 pm)
Hi Natalie, thanks for writing and for your comments. So happy that you liked the recipes. I make either the omelette or the scrambled tofu nearly every weekend. 🙂
Mirna January 3, 2019 (5:02 pm)
Hi! I have been following you on IG for a long time now and I finally clicked on your blog. LOVE your story. As someone who cannot for the life of her get a job (the market is so competitive in the UK!) and someone who is a real foodie and an adamant vegan activist, I am also in the process of starting a food blog. I have written a dozen recipes and they are ready to go (the website link I left) once some tehnicalities are sorted 🙂 Your story is so inspiring and I am very happy for you. I hope I can look back in a year and see that I planted (pun intended? :’) a nice opportunity for myself. Love, Mirna