Sweet Potato Custard Pie

Raw, Vegan, Grain/Gluten-Free

I’ve been craving something sweet but a little tired of pumpkin (which is very hard to use raw) so I remembered this Sweet Potato Custard that I hadn’t made in a few years.  Sweet potatoes work very well in raw recipes – in fact, one of the most dreamy juices I ever made (when I had a working juicer!) was sweet potatoes with apple, dusted with a little cinnamon.  Try it – tastes like the very best cider.

I aim to get in a wide rainbow variety of fruits and vegetables every day.  The recommended amount is 4 1/2 cups or 9 servings a day and sadly less than a third of the US population consumes that amount on any given day.  Sweet potatoes, part of the “orange” spectrum are high in fiber and beta-carotene.  Caratenoids are precursors to Vitamin A and are powerful anti-oxidants that protect tumor formation and the effects of aging.  These lovely tubers are also great sources of Vitamin B6, potassium, iron, magnesium, Vitamin C and Vitamin D, which for some reason many Americans are deficient.  The sugar in sweet potatoes also metabolize slowly to avoid insulin spikes and to sustain energy.

Feel free to substitute the pecans with any other seed or nut that you prefer.  You can also make this raw fusion by using a gluten-free or graham cracker crust.  The chia seeds add more protein and antioxidants and will help gel the custard.  Because there are no additional sweeteners other than potassium-rich dates, you can also try this as a side dish for kids, slightly defrosted.  It’s a good way to get them to eat their veggies!  In fact, you may want to add some green powder to the mix.

SWEET POTATO CUSTARD PIE

Custard:
2 large sweet potatoes
1 ½ cups cashews, soaked 2-3 hours and rinsed
10 dates, pitted
1 ½ cups water
2 TB. coconut oil
1 TB. vanilla powder or alcohol-free extract
4 TB. ground chia seeds
1 ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or mix nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamon)

Directions: Grind chia seeds in Vitamix, Nutri-Bullet or coffee grinder and set aside.Cut up sweet potatoes into smaller pieces and grate in food processor with grating disc.

Add pitted dates and water and blend (blender or Vitamix), add other ingredients and blend well, adding sweet potatoes until thoroughly mixed.

Crust:
1 ½ cup pecans (plus a few dozen extra for decorating)
6-8 dates, pitted
1 ½ TB. cinnamon
dash of salt
Optional:  Add 1 TB. coconut oil (and a little extra for greasing the pie plate, baking pan pyrex

Directions: In food processor with “S” blade blend ingredients until sticky. You will have enough to line an 8 x 8 baking pan or an oblong pan, which you may want to grease first with a little coconut or sunflower oil. Pour custard into pan, cover with plastic wrap and freeze. You can serve this pie, frozen, but it is particularly tasty (and easier to cut) when slightly defrosted.

Decorate with pecans before freezing if you want to make it look fancier.  As you can see in the photo, I used a rectangular glass pyrex dish.