Vegan lemon curd recipe

I'd already planned to post this recipe, in response to a customer request about making lemon meringue pie with our vegan meringue mix.

And then I was asked to do the catering for a funeral last week with the main condition being that there be plenty "of those delicious little lemon tarts you make".  Sure thing!

Delicious little lemon curd tarts

This is one of my* best recipes, because:

• a. It's delicious
• b. It's a much healthier vegan version of an old favourite
• c. The key ingredient takes most people by surprise, which is always gratifying!
  

Where traditional lemon curd is full of egg yolks and butter, this low-fat lemony twist is based on golden kumara (New Zealand sweet potato). So, along with the delicious sweet lemonyness, you get you get fibre and lots of other phyto-goodness, instead of saturated fat and cholesterol. Pretty good deal, huh?

* To give due credit, this recipe was based on this one by the wonderful Bryanna Clark-Grogan. But I have altered it considerably!

VEGAN LEMON CURD
250g golden kumara, thickly peeled and diced
¾ cup sugar
6 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juiceZest of one large lemon

1. Steam the kumara until very tender.
2. Place in a food processor with the remaining ingredients, and process until very smooth.
3. If I want it thicker, I add about 1/2 teaspoon of Instant Clear Jel.

This makes a great filling between two vanilla cakes - or you can drop a spoonful of the curd into cupcakes before you bake them. Delicious.

And, of course, it also works for vegan lemon meringue pie!

I made a double batch of the lemon curd, and while the kumara was steaming I shaped and baked a crust from the new New Way short crust pastry (finally, ready-made vegan short crust pastry in New Zealand!).
The curd was spread into the crust while still warm.
Then I whipped up a batch of meringue (adding 4 teaspoons of Instant Clear Jel for extra strength!) and piped it on top.  I popped it into a low oven for about 15 minutes, until the outside was just firming up.
Mmmm, so good!