Baked Papaya Pie

Check out this beautiful recipe from My Samoa Kitchen for using some of that gorgeous fruit found everywhere in the islands - Papaya or Pawpaw!

The consistency is so similar to a pumpkin pie, but the flavour will remind you of a good fa'ausi esi. You need a food processor or mini wizz to make the pie filling - otherwise a good masher and a LOT of determination. This pie filling can be done with literally two ingredients: Green Esi (Papaya) & Masoa (Arrowroot). The roasted esi is sweet enough to not need any sweetener added.

INGREDIENTS:

1 x large green esi 
1 T masoa (Arrowroot)
2 T water
Short crust pastry

1. Deseed your esi and scrape out the stringy or fuzzy bits. Chop the peel off with a sharp knife, and cut into roast vege sized pieces.

2. Put 1/3 cup virgin coconut oil into a heavy bottomed roasting pan and heat through in oven. Place your esi pieces into the pan, roast at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, before turning and roasting the other side for 15-20 minutes until they are nice and soft.

3. Remove from the roasting pan and place into a pot and use a masher to squash it up. Unlike pumpkin, the water content of roasted green esi is not high, so it will create a good firm filling. Place into the mini wizz in batches, and blend until nice and smooth, and put into a bowl.

4. Mix 1T masoa with 2-3T water. I work mine around with my finger to get rid of any lumps, as masoa is harder to mix than cornflour. Mix this through the esi mixture well with a spoon.

5. Roll out your short crust pastry on a bench sprinkled with icing sugar to stop it from sticking. Line your greased pie dish with baking paper so that the pie doesn't stick. I don't yet have a pie dish at home so I use a spring form cake pan, which also works well. Spoon your pie filling into the base and spread around evenly.

6. Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool, place in fridge then remove from pie pan or cake pan when cold. 

Serve with fresh, ripe esi, and cream or icecream. Slurpage.