This easy vegan sweet potato halwa is baked like a pie. In this creamy, delicious halwa/pie, I enhance the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes with the Indian molasses – Jaggery.
This recipe needs none of the elbow grease or baby-sitting of a traditional halwa. Once you whip all your ingredients together, all you do is bake. The end result gives you a nice caramelized top with creamy sweet potato filing inside. This cools further to give you a thicker dessert.
Step by step pics
Bake sweet potatoes in a 400F oven for an hour. I usually wash and roast a bag of sweet potatoes and do this in bulk. I refrigerate the rest and use in dishes like soup, pulusu, curry etc. throughout the week.
I used organic jaggery that my family sent from an Indian farm. It looks and tastes awesome!! Thank you to my amma and my sis-in-law!!
Make the spice liquid ready.
Whip up the sweet potatoes in the meanwhile..
After whipping everything together, pour the batter into a pie pan and bake.
50 minutes later…
Recipe
Vegan Sweet potato halwa that is baked similar to a pie (but without a crust)
- 3 baked sweet potato (medium)
- 1/4 cup jaggery
- 1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 in finely shredded ginger
- few rounds black pepper grinder
- 1/2 lemon (squeeze)
- a pinch salt
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Wash sweet potatoes and place them whole in a 400F oven for about an hour. Take it out, let it cool and peel them.
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Preheat oven to 350F. Get the spice liquid ready by melting all ingredients, except sweet potatoes, in a sauce pan.
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Place the roasted sweet potatoes in a stand mixer and blend thoroughly. Add spice liquid and whip until you get a uniform, creamy batter.
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Pour batter into a pie pan and place in 350F oven for about 50 minutes. Bake.
I know the ginger and black pepper sounds weird, but trust me the spices add a nice sharpness to the halwa. If you however want to stick to the traditional recipe, use cardamom powder instead.
This vegan recipe does not need eggs. We can get the same creamy effect with coconut milk, especially since the sweet potato already has a dense texture.
I have spiced the sweet potato filling with a very Southern American mix of spices including ginger, black pepper and lemon juice. It gives a real sharpness and bite to the rather bland sweet potato. I go this idea from Chef Carla Hall’s sweet potato recipe. But, feel free to use cardamom if this feels too strange to you.
Conclusion
Have you tried baking your halwa? Share your comments down below. As always, I love hearing from you!!
Post your comments here....I look forward to reading them!!