Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Halloween. Hana was a pumpkin. She was the most serious pumpkin in Seattle. She sat in her stroller in the pumpkin costume, evaluating the neighborhood with the expression of a quality control inspector at a factory she does not approve of. She did not understand candy. She did not understand costumes. She understood that it was cold and dark and people were making noise and her parents were walking her through a neighborhood she does not live in (yet; we move in January). She tolerated it. She is tolerant. She is tolerant the way I am tolerant: with visible judgment and internal grace.

We went to Bellevue first. David handed out candy. Karen sat by the door with yaksik on a plate. Three children ate the yaksik. One child said, "What is this?" Karen said, "Korean candy." The child said, "Cool." The child ate it. Karen was pleased. I was pleased. Korean candy in Bellevue. Thirty-one years after Karen and David brought home a Korean baby and didn't know a single Korean recipe, Korean candy is being handed to trick-or-treaters at their front door. The arc is long. The arc bends toward kimchi.

Hana's first word update: she has added "ma-ma" to her vocabulary, directed at me, on Monday, while I was feeding her oatmeal. She looked at me. She said, "ma-ma." I put down the oatmeal spoon. I said, "Yes, Hana. Ma-ma." She said it again. "Ma-ma." She said it three times. James, from the doorway, said, "She said dada first." I said, "James. Not now." He retreated. He was wise to retreat. I held Hana and she said "ma-ma" and the word was in my ears and in my heart and I was a mother who had been called by name by her daughter and the name was the word and the word was everything.

The recipe this week is the yaksik from Halloween — documented properly this time, because several neighbors asked for the recipe and I realized it should be in the Banchan Labs library. Glutinous rice, soaked for four hours, steamed for thirty minutes. While warm, toss with dark brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, cinnamon. Fold in chestnuts (roasted and peeled), jujubes (pitted and sliced), pine nuts, and raisins. Press into a greased pan. Steam for another twenty minutes. Cool and slice into squares or diamond shapes. The yaksik is dense, sweet, nutty, and stores beautifully — it keeps for a week at room temperature. It is the Korean answer to a brownie: rich, portable, and capable of making a six-year-old in a dinosaur costume say "cool."

Hana was a pumpkin for Halloween, and she took the role with extraordinary seriousness — so it felt only right to close out the season by honoring her costume with an actual pie. The yaksik was Karen’s contribution to the night; this pumpkin pie was mine, made the next afternoon while Hana napped and I was still floating from Monday’s "ma-ma." It is vegan because we have been quietly moving in that direction, and because a pie that requires no eggs or dairy felt appropriately miraculous for a week that already contained one miracle.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (plus cooling) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin puree
1 (13.5 oz) can full-fat coconut milk
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 unbaked 9-inch vegan pie crust (store-bought or homemade)

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Place the unbaked pie crust in a 9-inch pie dish and crimp the edges. Set aside.
Mix the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, coconut milk, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and vanilla extract until completely smooth and no lumps remain.
Pour and level. Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and smooth the top with a spatula. The filling will be quite liquid — this is expected.
Bake. Bake for 50–55 minutes, until the edges are set and the center has only a slight jiggle when you nudge the pan. If the crust edges begin to brown too quickly, tent them loosely with foil after 30 minutes.
Cool completely. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour at room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours (or overnight) to fully set. The pie will firm up considerably as it chills.
Slice and serve. Cut into 8 wedges and serve cold or at room temperature. Top with coconut whipped cream if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Vegan Pumpkin Pie — For the Most Serious Pumpkin in Seattle