Okinawan Sweet Potato Haupia Pie

Aloha ... Today I wanted to make something that reminds me of the sun …....Haupia a Hawaii dessert!  I love Hawaii with its beautiful sunset sandy beaches & breathe taking scenery not forgetting lovely people with Dwayne Johnson’s tanned skin! Ops! Out of the topic! LOL   It’s been quite awhile since I last visited Hawaii but it’s my favorite place in the world besides Tahiti .  Hoping to visit Hawaii again soon. One of the most famous desserts in Hawaii is Haupia, a traditional dessert .  Haupia is a coconut base custard dessert . The traditional recipe was coconut milk, arrowroot with sugar .  But nowadays arrowroot was being replaced with cornstarch instead .  A very delicious dessert that also used as topping for cakes & pies .  I still recalled the first time I tasted Haupia! Yum! Just delicious!

It’s not the first time that I’m making Haupia , actually I make it quite often because my hubby loves coconut so does my mom.  I used to make chocolate Haupia pie which the recipe comes in 3 parts that includes a macadamia sweet crust with a chocolate & haupia layer fillings .  But today I wanted to replace the chocolate layers with Okinawan sweet potatoes (purple color sweet potato) .  And OMG!  It’s totally worth all the effort to make this pie!  This pie is simply divine!  It’s really amazing how the sweet potato blended so well with the  coconut custard & the nutty  Macadamia flavor of the crust!  I used frozen Okinawan sweet potatoes because I can’t find fresh ones .  That is why the color is not as vibrant purple as the original recipe .  This is truly a  comforting dessert that I’m sure everyone will love!  I'll be making this pie specially for my mom for Mother's Day .  Hope she will like it .  By the way, Mother’s day in France will be celebrated on the 3^rd of June.  Nevertheless I would like to wish my mom & all the moms out there,  Happy Mother’s Day! Enjoy the lovely day everyone.

Jane Austen moment in Persuasion

Chapter 6

I am come on to give you notice, that papa and mamma are out of spirits this evening, especially mamma; she is thinking so much of poor Richard!  And we agreed it would be best to have the harp, for it seems to amuse her more than the piano-forte.  I will tell you why she is out of spirits.  When the Crofts called this morning, (they called here afterwards, did not they?), they happened to say, that her brother, Captain Wentworth, is just returned to England, or paid off, or something, and is coming to see them almost directly; and most unluckily it came into mamma's head, when they were gone, that Wentworth, or something very like it, was the name of poor Richard's captain at one time; I do not know when or where, but a great while before he died, poor fellow!  And upon looking over his letters and things, she found it was so, and is perfectly sure that this must be the very man, and her head is quite full of it, and of poor Richard!  So we must be as merry as we can, that she may not be dwelling upon such gloomy things."

Okinawan Sweet Potato Haupia Pie

Recipe adapted from Jo Anne Sugimoto

Ingredients:

For crust base:

90g unsalted butter

2 tbsp sugar

100g Macadamia nuts chopped or ground

225g flour

Sweet potato filling:

2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes: If you’re using fresh sweet potatoes, Peel & boil potatoes tills soft & mashed it.

115g butter softened

3 eggs lightly beaten

100g to 150g sugar

½ cup of evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Haupia filling:

400 ml coconut milk

125 ml water

50g sugar

45g cornstarch

Whipped cream:

20 cl liquid cream

2 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:

For the crust base:

1)      Mix sugar & flour in a bowl. Add in chopped nuts with butter & knead till dough.

2)      Grease pie pan & press the dough onto the bottom of a pie pan. Continue pressing till up the sides of the pan.  Place it in the refrigerator.

For the sweet potato filling:

      1) ¨Preheat oven to 180°C .Beat butter, sugar & cream till creamy.

2)      Gradually add in egg one at a time & keep on mixing. Pour half of the mashed sweet potatoes & mix till well combined. Add the rest of the sweet potatoes & mix again till in cooperated.

3)      Add in vanilla extract, evaporated milk, salt till well combined. Spread sweet potato mixture onto to pie crust half way to the top of the crust so that there enough  space for the Haupia filling. Bake for 30 minutes till the crust turn golden brown. Let to cool before starting to prepare the Haupia filling because it will solidify very fast.

Haupia filling:

1)      Combine water & coconut milk in a saucepan. Mix sugar & cornstarch together then add into the coconut milk. On medium heat ,stir the coconut liquid mixture till it thickens , this will take few minutes.

2)      Pour the Haupia mixture immediately over the sweet potatoes layer & spread evenly. Place in the refrigerator for few hours. I chilled it overnight.

3)      Beat whipped cream with powdered sugar till stiff. Pipe or spread whipped cream over the Haupia layer before serve. 

 

I’m submitting this to AlphaBakes challenge hosted this month by Caroline of Caroline Makes & co-hosted with Ros@Baking Addict of The More Than Occasional Baker. And the random letter for this month in ‘H’

The Language Of Flowers

Wisteria from my garden.

In the language of flower, Wisteria means welcome & also as a symbol of love .  We see the Wisteria in the 1820s Japanese Kabuki drama Fuji Musume(Wisteria Maiden) .  The Wisteria Maiden is depicted in a painting holding a Wisteria branch, until one day she becomes smitten with a young man & steps out of the painting in an effort to capture his attention .  Unfortunately, her attempts are futile .  Her lives goes unrequited, & she sorrowfully steps back into two dimensional world of her lonely painting still holding her weeping Wisteria. 

Linking this to Flowers on Saturday event.

This post is specially dedicated to my mom. Happy Mother's Day, Mama!