Curried Chickpea Cauliflower Pie with Fenugreek Pastry

preparation 20 minutes, plus chilling time
cook time 1 hour, 5 minutes
Serves 4

This hearty vegetarian pie from Bake Off star Chetna Makan is packed with flavour, from the tangy fenugreek pastry to the spiced chickpea and cauliflower filling

Recipe taken from Chetna’s Easy Baking by Chetna Makan (Hamlyn, £20.00) octopusbooks.co.uk. Image Credit: Nassima Rothacker

Ingredients Method

For the filling:
2 tbsps sunflower oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
1 bird’s eye green chilli, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 medium-sized tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp chill
For the pastry:
300g plain flour, plus more for dusting
½ tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp chilli powder
150g unsalted butter, chilled and chopped into cubes
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
5–6 tbsps water
1 egg, lightly beaten

Start with the filling. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the cumin seeds. Once they start to sizzle, add the onion and chilli and cook for 10 minutes until golden. Next, add the garlic and cook for another minute before adding the tomatoes. Cover and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes until they start to soften.

Next, add the salt and all the spices, then after a few seconds add the cauliflower, potato, chickpeas and measured water and mix well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften (they don’t need to cook completely). Transfer the chickpea mixture to a pie tin about 23cm in diameter.

Meanwhile, prepare the pastry by mixing the flour, salt and chilli. Next, add the butter and rub it well into the flour until you have a crumb texture. Now add the fenugreek leaves and mix well. Slowly add the measured water and mix until you get nice soft dough (you may not need all the water). Knead for a few seconds, then cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pastry out to 3mm thick. Cut away a long thin strip that is 1cm thick. Dampen the rim of the pie dish with water, then press down the dough strip along the rim. Dampen the dough strip too. Cover the pie with the remaining dough sheet and press down on the rim, sealing the pie.

Trim off the excess and crimp the sides in any pattern you like. Make a little slit in the middle of the dough to let out some steam. If you want to decorate the pie, make a floral pattern with the leftover dough and stick it on by brushing with water.

Brush the pie generously all over with the beaten egg and bake for 40 minutes until golden. Let it sit for 5 minutes before serving hot.

Ingredients