Though I was being lazy to post recipes online of late, I am very much keeping myself busy in the quicknhealthy kitchen :-). This Thanksgiving season, I decided to go a little extravagant to make two desserts. One was the most trending dessert of the season from NYT, Cranberry Curd Tart. For the second one I wanted to stick with my favorite TG dessert ingredient, our local Pumpkin. I also wanted to bring an Indian touch to my dessert (no surprise there!). That is how this classic 'Pumpkin Barfi Pie' originated. The quick baked crust is flour-less, gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan. The filling made on stove top is dairy-free, vegan and sweetened with just enough cane sugar. It can be substituted with coconut sugar or other choice of sweeteners, I just used unrefined cane sugar so that my bright yellow pumpkin color is retained in the dessert.
For the crust:
- Almond powder - 1 cup (3/4 cup almonds ground in a coffee grinder of dry blender)
- Dried shredded coconut - 3/4 cup
- Dates - 4-6
- Fresh ginger - 1 inch
- Virgin coconut oil - 2 Tbs
- Pumpkin - 4 cups (Grated and packed)
- Dried shredded coconut - 2 cups
- Organic unrefined cane sugar - 1 - 11/4 cups
- Cardamom - 6-8 (skinned and powdered)
For the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 deg F
- Process all ingredients in a food processor until moistened and well combined. It should form sort of a stiff 'dough'.
- Press the 'dough' into and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. (I used a tart pan instead of a pie pan)
- Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden. Let the crust cool down completely.
- Prepare the pumpkin: I used a variety called Orange Hubbard, but any variety of sugar pumpkin will work fine. Cut it into 1/2 and remove core and seeds. Cut into 3'' to 4'' pieces, remove skin. Grate using a vegetable grater. Measure 4 cups packed.
- Start cooking on a heavy bottom pan on medium heat, after 3-4 minutes, the pumpkin will start releasing liquid. Add coconut and continue cooking, stirring frequently taking care not to burn.
- In about 15-20 minutes, pumpkin should be cooked and soft. Add sugar and cardamom powder and continue cooking.
- Cook till all liquid is absorbed and everything starts to leave from the edges of the pan.
- Remove from flame and let it cool down. Once cooled down, fill in the prepared crust by pressing down evenly as you go. Smooth the surface evenly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days. Serve at room temperature.
- Any leftovers can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks.When serving warm in 200 deg oven for 5-10 minutes to soften.
