Pumpkins are available in India through the year and I use them in a number of traditional preparations. Whenever I cut a pumpkin, a pie made with it always came to my mind but somehow I was always intimidated with making a pumpkin pie. Reading this recipe made it sound and look approachable and delicious too. After all how could anything that had condensed milk not taste good?

I don’t think I can conceal my fondness for condensed milk delicacies. The number of cakes with condensed milk on divinetaste is testimony to this fact.In my humble opinion eggless cakes taste best when made with condensed milk. And when I stumbled upon this condensed milk pumpkin pie recipe in Cooking with Kurma, I couldn’t wait to give it a go.

Pumpkin Pie was one of the last dishes I made during my long stay at my parents place. The pie top had baked to a beautiful golden brown colour and the crust was tender and light. We enjoyed it warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Whipped cream or lightly sweetened yogurt would be my next try when I make pumpkin pie again.

Eggless Pumpkin Pie Recipe

This recipe called for freshly-ground whole allspice berries. Since I didnt have them on hand, I substituted it with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and dry ginger.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 140 gm (1 cup) unbleached plain flour
• 1/3 cup cold butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5-7 tablespoons cold water

For the filling

• 2 cups (500 ml) Pumpkin puree
• 400g, 1 1/4 cups, sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Prepare the crust:

Mix the flour with the salt and cut the cold butter into the flour using a pastry blender or with your fingers until you get coarse breadcrumbs. Alternatively, combine the flour, butter and salt in a food processor and process with 12-15 short bursts until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Put in the cold water and form into a soft dough. Do not handle the dough more than required at this stage. Gather the dough into a ball and chill well for an hour or two. Place the dough on a floured surface. Roll out the dough to a circle, approximately 12″ in diameter to line a 22.5cm (9-inch) pie dish or tart pan with removable bottom. Prepare the edges and chill while you prepare the filling.

Prepare the filling:

For the pumpkin puree:

Cut the pumpkin into wedges. Scoop out the seeds, pith and fibre with the help of a spoon. Pre heat the oven to 350F/180C/4G. Place the pumpkin wedges cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the pumpkin is tender when pierced with a knife. Scoop flesh out of the skins and puree with a hand blender or mash well by hand.

To make the pie:

Pre-heat the oven to 200 C/390 F. In a bowl, mix in the pumpkin puree, condensed milk,  cornflour, spices and salt and beat until there are no lumps. Spoon the filling into the chilled crust and level with the help of a palette knife. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the filling is set and the top crust is a nice golden brown. Allow to cool, cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or sweetened yogurt.