Pumpkin black-eyed bean pie with thyme and oregano

From Maria-Carin Gala’s Organic Kitchen.

Have you ever made a pie? I hadn’t until I came to Australia and learnt how to make macrobiotic pies like this one from my cooking teacher and friend Charlotte Wirnsberger. This is my jazzed-up version with a little extra herbs and veggies. You can even just make the filling and serve it as a stew with brown rice and some fresh pickles. Either way, serve with a green juicy salad and a wedge of lemon as this pie is naturally quite filling. You will need a pie baking dish for this recipe, the ones with the rippled edge. I hope you get a whiff of that meditative magic Charlotte’s cooking always exudes into your kitchen and into your belly.

Serves 6

Crust ingredients

1 cup ground almonds
1 cup maize meal or other gluten-free flour
1 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano, or thyme
1/4 cup olive oil
2/3 cup hot water, that’s just over half a cup, you might need a tad more, or not

Filling ingredients

1 cup black-eyed beans, soaked overnight in plenty of water
5 cm piece kombu seaweed
4 cups pumpkin, chopped
1 small sweet potato, chopped
1 handful mushrooms, sliced
1 carrot, chopped finely into triangles
2 onions, sliced into half moons
2 stalks celery, chopped finely
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp fresh thyme, if dried 2 tsp
1 tbsp fresh oregano, if dried 2 tsp
Sweet paprika, lots, about 1 tbsp
1 tbsp brown rice, or genmai miso: mixed with a little water to form a paste

Optional seasoning: Mirin, umeboshi vinegar, brown rice vinegar, 1 tsp each. Or just salt and tamari will do nicely, too.

Action

Preheat oven to 170 C.

Combine the flour for the crust with salt and mix well. Add oil and hot water to form a non-sticky dough. Let rest for approximately 1 hour.

Rinse beans and bring to a boil with the kombu. Skim off the rising foam, cover and boil until tender, about 45 minutes.

Roll out crust dough onto floured surface, place in greased pie dish and pre-bake at 170 C for about 30 minutes.

Sautee the onions gently in olive oil until browned, then add celery, carrots, mushrooms, pumpkin and sweet potato. Add salt and herbs. Simmer with a dash of water until tender. At the end add the miso paste and the cooked beans. Season with vinegars or tamari.

Place pumpkin mixture into the baked pie crust and bake further 20 minutes.

Let cool first, otherwise it will fall apart, then cut into pieces.

Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

Tip: You can add 1/4 cup arame seaweed to the mixture and sprinkle the top with sesame seeds. That’s also nice. Other beans, such as broad beans, would naturally work here too.

Recipe by Maria Carin Gala – galasorganickitchen.com – feedback on your cooking and baking experiences are welcome at: galasorganickitchen@gmail.com – more recipes by Maria-Carin on Osho News