Pinto Bean Pie

[lisafaz]

Yep, pinto beans.

Ever had it? Heard of it?

A student's mom brought me in some one year. She told me what it was, and I didn't really want to try it, but I couldn't offend and NOT try it either. I took a deep breath and gave it a chance.

Pinto Bean Pie is awesome!

This is the recipe she used. I made it yesterday for some friends, and they loved it, too. It's incredible when warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

1 heaping cup of mashed Pinto beans *
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
Unbaked pie shell

* 1 1/2 cup cooked beans equals about 1 cup, mashed.

Blend sugars, eggs and butter until creamy. Add pinto beans and blend well. Pour into 9 inch unbaked shell. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes, then at 350 for an additional 25 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.

[tmso]

Yeah, bean pies are really good; usually made with either navy beans or red beans, though. As far as I know, the bean pie was invented by a Black Muslim baker as a variation on the sweet-potato/pumpkin/etc vegetable pie tradition in the US, and although originally popularized by muslim bakeries, they caught on more generally and are standard fare and church picnics, BBQs, family get-to-gethers, etc, in various parts of the US. I can speak for Oakland, at least. The ones I've seen are usually a bit more spiced than the recipe you give above -- nutmeg and/or clove and/or cinnamon, if not chocolate, coconut, what have you.

Here's my bean pie recipe, as I make it in Paris.

1 vanilla bean
200 ml milk
150 g sugar
200 g butter
3 eggs, well beaten
50 cl well-cooked red beans
nutmeg, rum

Split the vanilla bean, scrape the seeds out, and put that all in a sauce pan with themilk and sugar. Bring to a simmer, stir well, remove from heat and let cool for 5 min, then stir in the butter. In the meantime, mash the beans. Strain the vanilla pod from the milk, add a healthy pinch of nutmeg, pour into the beans. Add the eggs and mix well. Stir in a shot or two of rum. Pour into a pie shell and bake at thermostat 5 until browned and done.

And I serve it with crème fraîche, of course!

[CindyW]

Okay, I can find ml and g, but what is a "cl"?

[tmso]

Whoops, sorry about that. cl = centilitre, so 50 cl is one-half of a litre. Also, thermostat 5 = 150 C = 300 F. My oven is very small, though, so I get radiant heat from the top as well. In a large oven, I'd do somewhere around 300-350 F.

Let me know how it comes out and what you think!

[lisafaz]

The recipe I posted was from a white Appalachian family in Western North Carolina, definitely not Muslim.

[ipsedixit]

sort of like Asian desserts that have Adzuki beans (i.e. red bean paste).

[tmso]

I bet that was the inspiration in the use of beans in the first place, but it's really not much like asian bean pastes. Bean pies are really custard pies, like pumpkin or sweet potato.

[todao]

Your posted recipe doesn't include the pecans and coconut that I've experienced in this pie so I think it falls a bit short of what it can be.