A Tale of a Thai Pie

You may think this a bit odd, and I'd have to agree.  On the other hand, it's oddly delicious!  You see, I've been playing with giving up dairy.  Just playing; it's hard to imagine a life without cheese or crème brûlée.  While wondering how I could make pumpkin pie without cream, I got the idea in my head of making a pie with Thai flavors.  Coconut milk in place of the cream, coconut crust, Thai spices...  You get the picture.

I'll give you my recipe, but do be warned it's not perfected yet.  Or is it?  Eating it last night we weren't sure it was sweet enough, and the cumin... was that really a good idea?  I had a piece for breakfast this morning; I admit that pumpkin pie is my all time favorite breakfast, and I have a really hard time eating breakfast at all.  I took a sniff and again, that cumin... ehhhh.  But then I took a bite, and another and another, and suddenly it was gone.  I'll let you decide if it needs more sugar or to leave out the cumin.  DH said it tasted more like  a side dish than a dessert.  As far as I'm concerned, that just gives me permission to eat more.  So here is what I did:

Coconut Crust

1 cup coconut powder (This came from the Indian grocer.  Not quite coconut flour, but definitely ground)
1/2 cup almond flour
2 Tbsp. tapioca flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. butter (I said I was "playing" with the idea of giving up dairy, not actually going cold turkey!)
1-2 Tbsp. water


Whisk together the dry ingredients.  Add the butter, mixing it in with your fingers to make medium crumbs.  With a fork, mix in 1-2 tbsp. of water.  You just want it to hold together.  Press into a lightly greased pie pan and place into a preheated 300˚F oven.  Let it bake about 20 minutes until the crust is very lightly browned.  Set aside to cool.


Pumpkin filling

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tsp white rice flour
1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin
3 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp ground corriander
1/8 tsp of Thai or Indian extra hot chile powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper (I used black because that is all I had; I think white would be better)
scant 1/4 tsp ground cumin
scant 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Put the milk, pumpkin, eggs, and lime juice in the blender.  Whir it around, then add the dry ingredients.  Pour this into your pre-baked shell and bake for about 60 minutes at 350˚F.  If the crust starts to brown too much, put some foil over the edges.  It's probably a good idea to go ahead and put foil around the edges before you pour the filling in.

I will most definitely try this again.  I'll probably put just a little more sugar in and leave out the cumin just to see how I like that.  It is possible that I might try adding a tablespoon or two of peanut butter or sprinkling ground peanuts on top;)