Chickpea Crust and Pumpkin Pie Recipe

This beautiful pie can make any cooking novice feel like a celebrity chef. The chickpea pastry we use in this recipe is so versatile and easy to work with (it holds together well), making it quite simple to decorate your pie in whatever creative way you feel.

Chickpea flour is also known as besan flour and is a nutritious gluten free flour, rich in folate, magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc and dietary fibre.

This pie is free from dairy and gluten, which can be problematic for people with skin and gut issues. This pie is also vegan, and low in salicylates, amines and glutamates such as MSG.

To decorate the pie we have simply cut straight strips of pastry and have bent them into a pattern. If you have a large pie dish the pattern could look like this:  

If using a smaller pie dish (around 24 cms or 9.5 inches), the pattern would look more like this: 

INGREDIENTS:

CHICKPEA (BESAN) PASTRY

• 2 cups chickpea flour                                                               
• 1 teaspoon quality sea salt                                                       
• 1/2 cup rice bran oil                                                                 
• 1/2 cup chilled filtered water

FILLING

• 2 x 400-gram cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
• 2 cups of diced pumpkin cut into 1cm x 1cm cubes (about 1/2 pumpkin)
• 1 serve of Caramelised Leek Sauce - get the recipe Here
• 3 tablespoons of finely diced chives or parsley (or combination of both)
• 2 freshly crushed garlic cloves (or 2 teaspoons of garlic powder)
• 1 teaspoon of Celtic sea salt
• 1-2 teaspoon of arrowroot flour
• Extra water
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
• Using a large food processor, mix together the flour and salt. Then with the motor running, add the oil through the chute until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
• Add the water - enough to make the dough slightly sticky (if you need more add ¼ cup), but add it 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Flour a large chopping board, and place dough on the board to kneed with extra chickpea flour if needed.

• Using an oiled pie dish, press the chickpea dough into the base and sides of the dish about 3mm thick until it is spread out evenly over the pie dish. NOTE: There should be leftovers of your pastry which you can cover with cling wrap to avoid it drying out, this will be used for the decoration.
• Prick holes into the base using a fork and blind bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven when done and set aside.
• Place cubed pumpkin onto a baking tray with a small amount of rice bran oil and bake until soft and lightly coloured. While the pumpkin is baking make the caramelised leek sauce and set aside.
• Place the same pan that was used to make the leeks (without cleaning it) onto a medium heat. Add the drained black beans, sliced red cabbage, crushed garlic cloves, herbs and salt and stir until well combined, about 5 minutes.
• Using a fork or potato masher, lightly mash the ingredients together adding a dash of water to create some moisture. To ensure the pie mixture is not too dry, you can combine 1 teaspoon of tapioca flour to a ¼ cup of cool water, add 1 teaspoon of maple syrup and stir into the pie mixture with an extra splash of water, to slightly thicken.
• When the pumpkin is cooked, remove from pan and add to the bean mixture stirring for another 5 minutes until well combined. Adjust the taste to your liking (you can add more salt, herbs or garlic), and allow to cool.
• Grab your pie dish and fill the pie mixture over the pastry bottom, you can add the caramelised leeks as the top layer, (or you can stir them into the mixture if you prefer). And now the fun begins...
• Between the chopping board and a sheet of baking paper, use a rolling pin to roll out the leftover pastry on the chopping board, to about 3mm thick.

You can decorate this pie however you like. We cut long thin even strips and curved them around each other as shown in the picture.

• Use a knife to cut any shapes you wish such as leaves, maple leaves, or flowers. Indent your shapes lightly with a knife or fork to create texture. Top your shapes over the pastry, wash with an egg wash or a brush of rice bran oil.
• Reduce the oven heat to 170°C (340°F) and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is lightly brown and the filling is hot.

If you can bring yourself to cut into your beautifully decorated, freshly baked pie, you can enjoy a slice with a side of green beans or other eczema friendly  vegetables.

NOTE: If you wish to add meat to this pie, such as leftover turkey from Christmas lunch, add this at the same time as the beans.

Allergy info: If you are sensitive to amines we do not recommend using leftover meats (as cooked meats develop amines overnight), but you can add freshly cooked meat and consume it on the same day. 

Freeze in individual slices for easy lunch and dinner meals. 

Products 

At Eczema Life, we recommend nutritionist Karen Fischer's low food chemical program (The Eczema Detox) along with additive-free supplements for skin health and wellbeing. Click on the images to view more details:

           

 

References