Experiment on veggie pie (attempt #2)

Having tried a vegetable pie with Chinese chive and spring onion, I wanted to see whether it would give better result using a different vegetable. This time I picked a long squash (or opo squash) along with eggplant.

Recipe: Long squash and eggplant pie (make one 8-inch-pie)


Ingredients:
- 1 small long squash, grated to 2 cups
- 2/3 medium Chinese eggplant, grated to 1 cup
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 tablespoon (TB) dried whole oregano
- 1 teaspoon (tp) garlic powder
- 1 TB dried parsley flakes
- 1 TB dried dill and lemon peel
- 2 tp black pepper
- dash of salt
- 2 tp baking powder
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 0.5 to 1 cup water


Procedure:
1. Mix flour and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Mix grated long squash and eggplant with all the herbs, spices and seasonings. Add feta and egg, and mix well. Then add the mixture of flour and baking powder. Mix thoroughly to form a thick paste. Add water to make the paste flow freely.
3. Pour into a greased metal baking pan. Bake in oven at 350F for about 50 minutes.


This time, the use of long squash contributed some moisture to the dough. The pie rose nicely in the oven as an effect of the baking powder. After the first 30 minutes, it was nicely browned and a knife sticking into the center could already come out clean. I covered the top with foil and let it bake for another 20 minutes anyway, just to be sure it's cooked. When the pie came out of the oven, its top had fallen flat after rising. But it still looked pretty good to me. My next goal is to improve the flavor and keep the pie texture moist for a longer time---even a few hours after coming out of oven.

Because of the rich starchy content of this pie, it makes a great breakfast. I cut 1/6 pan of the pie, heat it up for 40 seconds in the microwave, and then move it to the toaster oven to heat at 250F for 5 minutes to get a hot content and crispy top.