Aduki Bean Pie

My kids absolutely LOVE pies! I think I could put dirt in a pie and they would eat it, just because it was a pie :).

The problem with pies is pastry – specifically, what to use in place of the usual margarine (yech!) or oil.

Solution: tahini. This paste of ground sesame seeds binds flour into pastry and adds a huge hit of calcium to the meal.

This use-up-what’s-in-the-fridge pie was a huge hit with my whole family.

Aduki beans are a small red bean, often used in Japanese cooking. If you can’t get them, you can substitute any other kind of red bean.

Ingredients:

Filling
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
150 ml water
1 large carrot, diced
200 g mushrooms, chopped
400 g yellow squash, diced
2 cups cooked aduki beans

Sauce
100 ml plant milk (I used hemp milk)
60 g tomato paste (no added salt)
2 tsp whole grain mustard
1 tbsp Dr Fuhrman’s MatoZest (or finely ground dried tomatoes)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano

Pastry
2 cups wholemeal flour (I used spelt)
1/2 cup tahini
ice-cold water

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Sauté onion and garlic in water for minutes or until soft. Add carrot and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add mushroom and squash, and sauté for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add more water if necessary to prevent sticking.

While vegetables are cooking, prepare pastry. Blend flour and tahini in food processor until a coarse meal forms. While continuing to process, trickle water in slowly until a ball of dough forms. Roll 2/3 of the dough out to line a deep pie dish. Bake blind (i.e. bake the empty crust) for 10 minutes.

For the sauce, blend all ingredients until smooth. Add sauce and cooked beans to vegetable mixture. Pour into blind baked pie crust, roll out remaining 1/3 of dough to form the top crust, and pinch crusts together to seal. Bake for 30 minutes.