Vegan Recipe: Sweet Bean Pie with Coconut Whip Cream

Vegan Sweet Bean Pie with Coconut Whip Cream

This recipe for Vegan Sweet Bean Pie is inspired by the traditional Bean Pie that has been a staple for followers of the Nation of Islam for generations. It is also part of my personal mission to make friends with silken tofu. BUT, as I found out after I cooked it, this is not actually something that could be eaten by anyone in the Nation of Islam because tofu is made from soy, which is actually a forbidden food for that religion! Clever me.

So I went back and forth in my mind about whether or to post this or not, and in the end I thought it was tasty enough to stand alone outside of it's original religious context. It's got seasonings that are similar to the pumpkin or sweet potato pie and pairs surprisingly well with the coconut whipped cream and coconut water instead of milk. And though beans might seem like a strange thing to make a pie out of, there is plenty of precedent for making sweet treats from beans in East Asian cuisines, specifically the candies from sweet bean paste seen in Japanese, Korean and Chinese cooking. So lets just think of this as an opportunity to expand our beany repertoire.

BEFORE YOU START: If you want to make the coconut whipped cream you will need to place a can of coconut milk in the fridge for a few hours so that it will separate.

Bite Sized Sweet Bean Pie

Vegan Recipe: Sweet Bean Pie

Makes one pie large pie

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked navy beans or cannelloni beans
1 vegan pie shell
120 ml of blended sliken tofu
1 cup coconut water (this will come from the bottom of the separated coconut milk that you use for the whipped cream)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp clove

1 cup thick coconut cream separated from the top of a cold can of coconut milk
2-3 tbsp of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F/220c/Gas Mark 7 for 15 minutes.
2. Open your can of coconut milk. Carefully scoop the cream from the top of the can in to a large bowl and let stand. It should separate into about 1 cup of coconut water and 1 cup of coconut cream.
3. Blend the coconut water, should be about a cup, and silken tofu in a bowl until smooth.
4. Add spices and beans, and blend until this is smooth.
5. Pour batter into the pie shell and bake in the oven at 425f/220c/Gas Mark 7 for 15mins.
6. Now is a good time to start on the whipped cream.
1. Grab your bowl of cream, which should now be room temperature and add the powdered sugar and cinnamon.
2. Get a whisk or electric beater and whip until it looks like whipped cream.
3. Let stand until ready for use.
7. Reduce the heat to 350f/180c/Gas Mark 4 and bake for another 35 minutes. 
8. Serve warm with coconut whipped cream on top.

Sweet Bean Pie

This post is shared at Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural Party Hop