This was a recipe that was given by someone that is close to me who is my daughters late paternal grandmother. She was a kind old lady that was quick for giving you advice to keep you on the right path and also the type of person no one in their right mind no one wanted to tangle with. If you was doing something wrong she let you know about that too. Also she was a very good cook and enjoyed cooking and going fishing. Sometimes during the holidays I would polish off one piece of pie and wanted to eat the rest.
Those that know me very well knew I could eat a whole pie to myself back then. I asked her for her recipe. She gave it to me too. Now that I make them I end up giving away pieces of the pie I do not want to keep it to myself. This lady knew me all to well when I told her that she smiled and she was laughing because she could remember very well.
At times it is best to give then receive and life is a give or take type situation. There is no need to be selfish and take things for yourself it is just not fair. Now I am ready to give the recipe so you can make this for yourself.
Bear in mind for every 2 big sweet potatoes or 4 small sweet potatoes will be enough for two pies. I boil these sweet potatoes with skin on until they are soft and tender and I boil them with their jackets on this takes about 40 minutes. While that is going I add 1/2 cup of all purpose unbleached flour, 4 tbs of veggie ghee like dalda. I add 1 pinch of salt and mix these till the flour and ghee has a crumbly texture. Don’t worry dalda ghee is halal and a lot of people in Pakistan uses this this can be bought at any Indian and Pakistani grocery store. I take some icy cold water 1/4 of a cup and add it slowly to the flour mixture. You do not want the dough to be too soft and mushy or too hard. The ghee helps condition the dough enough to make it pliable. You will have to knead your dough for a couple of minutes after everything is mixed in. I use a huge tray to roll out my dough with my rolling pen to keep my counter clean. I sprinkle the with 1 handful flour and take my dough tear it in half since this is for two pies. I take my dough piece dip it in flour for dusting and it start rolling until it is thin and flat. When it is as flat as I like I take my pie pans and line them with parchment paper and I put the crust in the paper lined pie plate and I press all around the pie plate as I go. I take a fork and repeatedly poke at the bottom of the crust repeatedly then I crimp the top of the pie with my fork going around the whole entire plate. I preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit = 200 degrees Celsius and work on putting together my filling for the pie to go inside the crusts.
I take and drain my sweet potatoes. After boiling and done right the skin comes right off. After pealing the sweet potatoes mash them until soft and unlumpy . I add a drop of vanilla essence this you can find at any Indian and Pakistani grocery store or use vanilla powder found in a lot of Arabic food stores which are free from alcohol. If you are using vanilla powder use a pinch. I added 1 egg, 2 pats of butter, 1 drop of almond oil or add 2 almonds to the mortar and pestle and grind the almonds this work too. I added 1 tsp of lemon juice and added a pinch of grated lemon peel for flavor. I added 1/4 cup of milk, grated a tiny piece of nutmeg, 2 dashes of cinnamon powder, 3 tbs agave nectar. There is also sugar in the raw, turbinado sugar, honey, real maple syrup can be found in some stores like whole foods market. These are the sweetener options and I just love to stick with my agave nectar. One day I was out of almond oil and I had to use the crushed almonds. It serves the same purpose and it is readily available. The almond oil I found in Pakistani grocery stores.
I mixed everything together after I added them for the filling and put it in the pie shells to bake for 15 minutes until done and the crust will be golden.
This is a perfect anytime desert and it goes nicely on holidays with turkey and dressing, ok some say stuffing too but you know what I mean.
One time I pulled a harmless prank on my dad by putting agave nectar in here instead of sugar because he is a diabetic. I told the lady who gave me the recipe I said, Mrs. Johnson guess what! She said what. I said I made the pie and put agave nectar in it and gave my dad a piece. She said that’s nice. It is because my dad also loved her pies and the piece of pie I gave him with the agave nectar in it he couldn’t tell the difference because he knew it is something sweet. This is funny and true. The old lady really was laughing. I am serious I made her day and she was happy my dad liked my pies too.
I hope inshallah when you try this recipe that you would get a few chuckles from reading this very blog entry. Also my father is not different from other Germans he has a sweet tooth and Germans loves sweets.
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