Egg-free No-Bake Pumpkin Pie Pudding With Candied Nuts/ Praline

You’ve probably heard the saying, “As American as Apple Pie”. While Apple Pie has become a quintessentially American food, Pumpkin Pie is is another pie that can be probably be classified the same way. Pumpkin Pie is a classic American Thanksgiving tradition, probably for two reasons. For one, Thanks giving (and Halloween) are both celebrated at time of the year which coincides with pumpkin harvest season. The other probably has to do with the fact that when the first Pilgrims landed they realised they had to eat the pumpkins grown by the Native Americans to survive.

However, one of the earliest recipes for Pumpkin Pie came from “Le Vrai Cuisinier François” or The True French Cook written in 1651 (English ed. 1653) by a French chef called François Pierre de la Varenne.

The English, in those days, called the pumpkin a “Pumpion” and a 1670 cookbook by Hannah Wooley has a recipe for Pumpion Pie which goes, “Take a Pumpion, pare it, and cut it in thin slices, dip it in beaten Eggs and Herbs shred small, and fry it till it be enough, then lay it into a Pie with Butter, Raisins, Currans, Sugar and Sack, and in the bottom some sharp Apples, when it is baked, butter it and serve it in.”

Sack? In pie? I think sherry was referred to as “Sack” in the old days in England. Apparently, the first recipe for Pumpkin Pie in the US appeared only in 1796 and it was called a “Pomkin Pudding” but baked in a crust.

I’ve baked quite a few pies but I still haven’t ventured in the direction of Pumpkin Pie. Don’t ask me why, because I’m not sure I have answer. We use a lot of pumpkin in our cooking, and I buy it about once in 10 days. However, in my traditional style of cooking, pumpkin is always cooked as a savoury dish. So maybe that’s where my hesitation to turn pumpkin into something sweet starts.

Out here, I’ve seen three kinds of pumpkins. One is what we call “patcha matthan”which translates to “green (or raw)pumpkin” in English and it has a mottled green and yellowish skin and is light yellow-orange with a touch of pale green on the inside. The other kind is the pumpkin which is orange on the outside, and deep orange on the inside. Both these varieties are large though, the first kind tastes much better when cooked into savoury dishes, in my opinion. The third kind is also orange but much smaller and can comfortably be held in one’s hands. I found this variety referred to as “Disco” pumpkin in Kerala for some reason.

It’s Thanksgiving season in the US, and I’ve been seeing a lot of blogs and food sites showcasing all things pumpkin. I was looking for a dessert to make for the weekend, one that was easy enough, reasonably light on calories and didn’t require baking because my oven wasn’t working. Pumpkin seemed the way to go since I had a quarter of a pumpkin sitting in the refrigerator. A quarter of that was reserved for our Cocker spaniel Fudge (he loves pumpkin) and I decided to start my pumpkin dessert journey with a Pumpkin Pie style pudding instead.

I understand that the preferred way to make Pumpkin Pie or generally anything that involves the use of pumpkin purée is to use canned pumpkin version. In India, we get pumpkin the year round and there is a general preference in Indian kitchens to use fresh produce rather than preserved/ canned stuff, if you can even find it.

I also see references on blogs and in articles written by some Americans about pumpkins smelling funny and how they’re all stringy and watery and why it’s so much better to use the canned variety. I don’t know if the variety of pumpkin that we get here is different, but I’ve never seen stringy, watery or funny smelling pumpkin (unless it’s spoilt). So I made my own pumpkin purée, which isn’t all that difficult to do. We like just a hint of the spices, but if like them pronounced please adjust the amounts to suit your taste. If you don’t like walnuts, you can use almonds instead for the praline.

Pumpkin Pie Pudding is nothing but the pumpkin custard that goes into the pie crust to make Pumpkin Pie. So you could use this pudding as the filling in a pre-baked pie crust, and you would have a Pumpkin Pie which just needs refrigeration to set. This is a fuss-free pudding that can be ahead of time, so it’s a good dessert idea for when you have guests over.

Egg-free No-Bake Pumpkin Pie Pudding With Candied Nuts/ Praline

(Adapted from My Recipes)

Egg-free No-Bake Pumpkin Pie Pudding With Candied Nuts/ Praline

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Servings 4 serving

Ingredients

  

For the pudding:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tbsps vanilla custard powder flavoured
• 1 3/4 cups milk (I used 2% )
• 1/2 cup pumpkin unsweetened purxe9e *
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon ground
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg finely grated
• 1/4 tsp ginger finely grated dried
• 1/4 tsp allspice

For the candied walnuts/ praline:

• 1 1/2 tbsps sugar
• pinch salt A
• 1/4 cup walnuts coarsely chopped

To serve:

• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• Ginger cookies (optional)

Instructions

 

• Make the pumpkin custard first. Whisk together the sugar, vanilla flavoured custard powder and the milk in a pot or pan till well mixed. Place on medium heat and keep stirring frequently until the mixture has thickened and coats the spoon or whisk well. Donu2019t let it come to a boil. Make sure no lumps form.
• Add the purxe9ed pumpkin, the vanilla and the spices and whisk well by hand till incorporated. Take the custard off the heat and keep stirring as it cools and thickens making sure a u201cskinu201d does not form. Once it is barely warm, divide the custard equally between 4 serving glasses/ cups. Let it cool completely, then cover with clingfilm and refrigerate till ready to serve.
• To make the candied walnuts or praline, place the sugar and the pinch of salt in a small skillet (preferably non-stick). Add a teaspoon of water and place it on medium heat and stir a couple of times so that the sugar melts/ dissolves. Let it bubble until it turns golden brown. Add the chopped nuts and stir until all the nuts are well coated. Spread this on a lightly oiled foil lined tray. Let it cool completely. Chop up coarsely. Store in an airtight container if not using immediately.
• To serve, whip the cream and the sugar till it forms soft peaks that hold. Spoon or pipe a little cream on to each serving of pumpkin pudding and sprinkle the candied walnuts/ praline over this. Serve with or without the ginger cookie on the side.

Notes

*You can use canned pumpkin purée or make your own. This is how I made mine. Chop up the pumpkin into pieces and pan roast them with about a tablespoon of butter for about 5 minutes, over medium heat until they’re golden brown. Then steam-cook the pumpkin till it’s done and very soft. Let this cool and then blend into purée. You can also roast them in the oven. If you find that your pumpkin is a little on the wetter side, then mash it slightly after it has cooked and let is drain for about an hour before you purée it.