Moni's Vegan Sweet potato pie experiment

My dear Chaminde Alum sister Moni is allergic to eggs and dairy. She got a share of sweet potatoes and tried converting my sweet potato pie recipe into dairy and egg free, it didn't turn out quite right. So here it is for you, sistah! I am calling this my Moni's Vegan Sweet Potato Pie!

You will see that I only put 1/2 cup of brown sugar in the pictures, however it really should increase to 1 cup instead. The sweet potatoes are not very sweet. I guess it's 1°F outside, we are in the middle of the winter, there is not good vegetable around. I would adjust the sugar to your taste, depending on the quality of the sweet potatoes you can get. 

There is no egg in this recipe. By accident, I found that egg replacement product is actually mainly cornstarch and tapioca flour, so well... why do I want to pay over $5 for a box when I can get tapioca flour for about $2.00 a bag. The tapioca flour here helps jell the watery content from the tofu, since I am using a silken soft tofu, I don't have to add any liquid at all. It's almost fat free. (You still get fat from the crust and tofu). I would not recommend using cornstarch. Tapioca is almost tasteless without interfering with flavor of the main ingredient.

Oh Moni is a blogger too, check out her blog and her Foodie Forever

Moni's Vegan Sweet Potato Pie

1 ready made vegan pie crust - defrosted
2 cup mashed sweet potato (about 2 large root)
3/4-1 cup packed brown sugar
1 box silken soft tofu

1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
In a blend or food processor, combine mashed sweet potato and sugar

Add tofu, the spices and 1/4 cup tapioca flour

Blend well together

Pour the custard in to the prepared pan

 Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour till the center is set. Test by inserting a toothpick in the center and it should come out clean

 Cool completely before serving.  If you want to serve this a la mode, I would recommend place  a slice of pie on a plate, then microwave for 30-45 sec to warm up. For some reason it is very hard to cut this pie hot/warm. Serve with your choice of non-dairy frozen dessert.

 Serve 8

Enjoy
Aloha!

Put oon my cowboy boots, make a Sweet Potato pie for my 2-step man!!!

My CSA is coming to an end soon. I am going to miss the weekly supply of wonderful fresh vegetable. I will also miss the "surprise" challenge each week. This week CSA came with a pile of sweet potatoes. They are all in some funny shape. I was told that our fall has been very dry and the soil was hard, the sweet potatoes were trying so hard in the ground and they ended up in some elongated knotty shape. They are still sweet and wonderful. I wanted to do something with them apart from roasting. I then remembered how much I loved sweet potato pie when I lived in the south. I found a recipe online, as usual, I "Kulia-fied) it. I am making a pie for Mr Wonderful. 

I came to the conclusion that Mr Wonderful is a "closet" pie-lover. He said he did not care for dessert or sweet, but he would always find room for pie. He would have a slice of pie for breakfast! He told me  he knew pies, his mother and sisters were all bakers. They used to make some amazing pies. However, they have never make sweet potato pie. This will be a nice surprise for him - some sweeet po-ta-to pie for my hon-ky-tonk man! (You have sing this like a country song).

Classic Southern Sweet Potato Pie. 

1 lb sweet potatoes. Clean, boiled and peeled

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp grounded cinnamon

1/4 tsp grounded ginger

1/4 tsp grounded clove

1 tsp vanilla

1 ready made unbaked pie crust

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Line a 9" pie pan with the crust. Crimp the edges or you can just press down the edge with a fork to create a pattern.

Crack 1 egg in a small bowl, separate the yoke from the white. Reserve the yoke

Brush the pie crust with a bit of the white. I call this "waterproofing" to prevent the crust from getting too soggy from the custard.

In a med bowl, mash the sweet potatoes. Make about 2 cups.

Add 1/2 cup sugar, mix well.

Add 1 egg, the reserved egg york with the remaining white. Mix well

Stir in butter

Then milk.

Add cinnamon, ginger, clove and vanilla.

Whisk the mixture together till blended.

Pour the custard into the prepared crust

Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for 60 mins.
Pie is ready when you insert a toothpick in the center and it come out clean.

The filling will puffed up during baking. Let it cool for 10 mins, the cake will flatten out and ready to serve

Serve with a vanilla ice cream or maple whipped cream on the side

To make Maple Whipped cream:
With a mixer, whip 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream till soft peak forms
fold in 2 tbsp of maple syrup. Continue whipping the cream till set.
Leave in the fridge for 30min.

Enjoy
Aloha

Strawberries Pie time

We had a long winter and spring came 5 weeks late for us and the weather has been a bit on the unpredictable side, storms and lower than normal temps. Just when I started to wonder would summer ever be here, then I saw these at the grocer.

I had been disappointed a few times this year, but these were different. They had that sweet wonderful smell of in season strawberries and they were so sweet too. I had to do something with it.

Mr Wonderful always tells me he doesn't care for sweet and he will eat anything... Well, well, everyone has a preference... and the truth is, he likes pies. I made a simple quick Strawberries pie for our Memorial weekend. 

Simple Strawberries Pie

• 2 sheets roll-out pie crust 
• White sugar, for top of crust 
• 1 egg, separated into yoke and white, lightly whisked with a fork 
• Sugar for sprinkle 
• 4 cups strawberries, washed and hulled 
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted 
• 1 Tbsp instant Tapioca 
• Pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll out 1 sheet of the pie crust and put in a 8-inch pie plate, brush the crust with beaten egg white. Set a side.

Roll out the other sheet and cut into 1/2-inch strips with a pizza cutter or pastry wheel. Set aside (You don’t have to be perfect)

In a large bowl, mix together 4 cups of strawberries, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla ,melted butter and salt

Add Tapioca, toss well. You can use cornstarch. I prefer tapioca in berry and soft fruits pie.The taste is cleaner to me and the fruit gel tighter and make a better presentation when you serve. 

Pile the strawberries into the prepared crust. 

Arrange the strips over the top of the pie in a lattice pattern. 

Use a fork and crimp down the edges, trim off any excess strips. 

Take 1 tbsp of yoke, mix with 1 tbsp of mix to make the egg wash. Brush the top.

Sprinkle with sugar evenly. 

Place pie on a foil lined baking sheet. It will bubble over, the foil will save you a lot of cleaning up later!

Bake the pie for an hour and until the top is golden brown.

YUM~

Aloha