I think I'm a better cook than I am a baker. That's because I'm not precise enough to be a good baker. I don't know how many countless conversations I've had with people coming to the same conclusion -- cooking is more like art, baking is more of a science. Reminds me of how I was always better at the arts. Sciences I could do well enough -- but it took too much sweat and tears. I remember the day I was cleaning up all my old childhood things in my room after I graduated from university. I happened upon my first year of university schedule at U of Regina, where I was registered to go before I discovered I would instead be going to Carelton U in Ottawa. My would-have-been-UofR schedule consisted of English, Philosophy, History, Calculus, Physics. I was appalled as I looked over this blast-from-my-potential-past.
What was I thinking? Oh right, I didn't know what I wanted to study, so I was leaving all my options open. I am so thankful God rescued me and redirected my path. In the end I never took a single English class (or any of the other four subjects listed above) in my entire university career. Quite amazing really, considering I did a degree in Communications.
But I digress. After all the comments I received on Facebook about my blueberry-lychee pie experiment being a success, I will share with you the process here.
The inspiration for this pie was two fold:
Inspiration #1: I love lychees.
Bonus recipe alert: My main go-to way to enjoy them is to blend them in a simple summer smoothie: one can of peaches (including juices) + one can of lychees (including juices) blended together. One time I requested a lychee-peach blend at the best bubble tea place in Vancouver. I laughed when the woman obliged, but gave me a stern disclaimer and warning because I was ordering off the proven menu: "We don't guarantee it will taste good!".
The accidental discovery of the fabulous marriage of lychees and blueberries: During one spontaneous visit, I offered my guest a smoothie. I only had a can of lychees but no peaches. But I had frozen blueberries. So I threw those in the blender together, unsure of how it would turn out tasting. Wow! Delish!
I'm discovering that lychees are quite fragrant, but subtle enough to complement a lot of other fruits. Or even savoury foods. The Thai House by my work puts lychees in their ostrich curry. Yumm!
Inspiration #2: Beyond Savoury, to Sweet Dumplings
A few years ago my neighbour and friend had a Chinese dumpling wrapping (and gorging) party for her birthday. We wrapped Chinese savoury dumplings, pan fried and ate to our hearts' content.
For dessert, following the lead and suggestion of one of the non-Asian guests, we filled the leftover dumpling wraps with a sweet filling of fruit. Apparently it's some kind of European dessert (can't remember the name, or the country). We pan fried them and they were delish!
This year for Chinese New Year, we received a fairly last minute invitation to another neighbour's dumpling wrapping party. Feeling like I needed to come with something in hand, but being too lazy to go grocery shopping, I looked for what I had in my cupboards. Lychees and blueberries! We tried wrapping a few of these as dumpling fillings. Because we decided to steam them, it didn't quite work out. The texture of the wraps just didn't match the sweet interior. If you're going to do sweet dumplings (with Chinese style wrappers) you must panfry them if they're to taste right...
...so with the leftover blueberry lychee filling, and armed with the lesson that there must be fried or greasy goodness, I opted to try it as a pie filling.
Without further rambling delay...
Guidelines for Blueberry Lychee pie (use them as a starting point, not a precise recipe. While I know baking is more of a science, I just can't part from my more fluid artsy ways ;)
Pie crust recipe is found here (thanks to Dilys for pointing me there!)
Filling Ingredients (with possible substitutions)
- 2 cans of lychees, drained and loosely cut into smaller pieces, whatever your desired chunkiness
- 2 cups of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1/3 cup of liquid (any kind of juice, left from the lychee can would be good too; with the remaining juices from the can, it makes a fabulous refreshing cocktail with a punch of lychee liquer!)
- 2 tablespoons of tapioca starch (or corn starch, anything that will thicken)
You could add sugar (or alternative sweeter, like Stevia or agave), to taste. I didn't add any additional sweetener, because the canned lychees have enough extra sugar. You could use fresh lychee if you're trying to go sugar free.
If you're trying to go gluten free, you could do a nice crumble topping, with quinoa or millet flour instead of a wheat pie crust.
The substitutions are endless! Try other fruits like peaches to go with the lychees. For the fruit, as long as you have about 4 cups of fruit you could change up the ratios and put more lychees if you want to experiment with stronger lychee flavour.
The Method:
- Heat filling ingredients in a pot over medium heat until thickened.
- Fill pie crust with filling. Cover the pie with a top crust, being careful to seal the edges. Poke the crust top with a few holes.
- Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. Cool to let set. Then Enjoy!
See how un-precise I am? I can't even give you a precise time to bake, based on your pie format. This recipe made me 10-12 little pie crusts, the size of individual muffins which I baked for 20 minutes in my convection oven (I pressed the pie dough into silicon muffin liners). But the pie crust recipe is enough for a 9inch pie I think. I think it would take longer to bake one large pie. That's why I stick with the "golden brown" rule.
Have fun and let me know how it goes!
