When I was visiting the local market this weekend, I found these white cherries! Up to that moment I only enjoyed the dark purple variety. However, these looked great so I bought a pound. These white cherries still taste like cherries but are much sweeter. Therefore you can add a little bit of lemon juice to the cherries to brighten the flavors.
In old-school Dutch recipes it is very common to serve ‘vla’ with seasonal fruits. Dutch ‘vla’ is variation on the regular French Custard. It has most of the time less eggs and less cream in the custard. Here you can find the traditional way of making Dutch ‘vla’!
Nevertheless, back to the white cherries! For this recipe I made a vegan coconut custard, thickened with cornstarch. I think this is a great way to eat vegan, enjoy seasonal fruits and in a more sustainable way. The custard is a bit more yellow due to the cane sugar. If you use white sugar, the custard will turn out more white.
This custard is now served with white cherries, but you can serve it with other types of fruits as well!
Vegan Dutch Coconut ‘Vla’
Equipment
- Cooking Pot
- Whisk
- Bowl
- Plastic Foil
Ingredients
- 400 ml Coconut Milk or 1 ⅔ cup
- ½ Vanilla pod or some vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp Cane Sugar
- 20 gram Cornstarch or 2 tbsp
Serve with..
- Seasonal Fruits
- Shredded Dried Coconut
- Coconut Cream optional
Instructions
Making the Custard
- Pour 300 ml of coconut milk into the cooking pot.
- Cut the vanilla pod in half and remove the seeds with the back of the knife. Add the vanilla seeds, and the pod, to the coconut milk.
- Bring the coconut milk to a boil and turn off the heat. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt (optional). Let the milk infuse for about 10 minutes.
Cooking the custard
- Bring the milk to a boil again and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Mix the leftover 100ml of coconut milk with the cornstarch and pour this into the hot coconut milk.
- While stirring with a whisk, heat the mixture for about 2-3 minutes. Make sure the custard doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.
- Once thickened up, the custard is ready! Transfer it into a bowl, cover with plastic foil and let it cool down in the refrigerator.
Serve with…
- Clean the cherries and remove the cherry pits. If you like you can add a little bit of lemon juice to the cherries. This will balance out the sweetness of the cherries.
- When the custard is cold, you can use a whisk to loosen it a little. Preferring a more airy custard? Feel free to mix in some whipped up coconut cream.
- Serve the custard with the cherries and shredded dried coconut!