A while back the the dreadful heat of summer, Lawrence was reminiscing about a pie he recalled from his student days. “The Black Panthers use to sell it at their bake sales. Made with beans and spices. We ate it up.” I promised him I’d make one when the weather cooled down.
And so over this holiday weekend, Hitomi and I made a “Black Muslim Bean Pie” with some variations to the recipe to fit it to Japanese ingredients. In honor of Lawrence’s story, I am calling it:
Black Panther Bake Sale Pie
1 (225 ml) can unsweetened evaporated milk
4 eggs
2 cups canned cannellini beans *
1/3 cup butter
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust
Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Get your pie crust ready. Put everything else into the blender or food processor, starting with the wet ingredients. Blend until smooth. Pour into crust. Excess custard can go into a ramekin to be baked separately. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the custard is puffed up and set and the top is brown. Serve warm or cold.
*Most recipes specify navy beans, which are not available in Japan. Lawrence says he remembers the pie being pink, probably made with red kidney beans. He thinks that the white bean version may have come about to make it look more like pumpkin pie.
