This Savoury Veg Pie can be made with simple vegetarian ingredients that have complimenting flavours. You don't need much preparation when you wish to make something quick, but if you spend ample time, you get to be wonderfully surprised with this heart winning recipe. I tried an unusual little experiment with the pie crust that not only enhances flavour, but also makes it ready to use in about 30 mins. This isn't a plain regular pie crust at all, instead, it has a wonderful nutty flavour coming from the cheese and herbs incorporated within. I always use aged/mature cheddar in such type of crusts to give them a noticeable flavour.Alternatively, you can also use your left over pizza crust or a frozen one to save time. This one is an open pie, I am not covering its top with more crust as I didn't want an extra step.The filling has minimal efforts, I am using canned black beans, as they save a lot of time that takes in soaking and later stir frying boiled beans with almost same ingredients as of the filling. Red kidney beans can also be used for this recipe. Celery adds a hell lot of flavour in filling, so don't skip or replace it at any cost, in fact, make this recipe when you certainly have celery in your fridge 😉 lets get started.
Equipment
- pie baking dish
- frying pan
Ingredients
For Homemade Instant Pie Crust
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup grated mature cheddar cheese (optional)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 block cold butter (use generously)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp dried garlic
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
Pie filling
- 1 cup roughly chopped button mushrooms
- 1/2 can of black beans
- 1/2 cup tomato puree
- 1 stick celery finely chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 pods garlic minced
- 2 Thai red chilies seedless and minced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp fennel powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- Salt to taste
Top & Garnish
- 1 large cup mashed potatoes (see recipe link in notes)
- 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp dried mixed herbs
Instructions
Preparing the Pie Crust
- Combine all dry ingredients along with oil and butter(grate cold butter directly on top of flour, and keep mixing it), then bring it all together (don't knead, just press), adding little water at a time to form a hard dough ball.
- Wrap inside a cling wrap to avoid contact with air, allow 30 mins to rest inside fridge.
For Pie Filling
- Heat oil and butter in a pan, cook minced garlic and onion, saute until onions are golden brown.
- Add all spices, stir for a minute then mix mushrooms and celery, sprinkle some salt, let it cook for until the mixture looses water.
- Now add black beans and tomato puree, mix well, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes
- You will see that the mixture starts to loose moisture, keep stirring on a low flame till maximum water is evaporated, turn off the heat and let it steam for a while.
Layering and Topping
- Grease your baking dish with some butter.
- Take out the crust dough and use rolling pin to flatten it to the size of your baking dish, now roll over the sheet upon your pie baking dish securing the edges well and shape along.
- Pour the filling over and spread well equally
- Top with a layer of cheesy mashed potatoes (see recipe in notes) & load with shredded parmesan cheese, sprinkle dried herbs all over it
- Bake at 200°C for 35-40 mins in the oven. Enjoy with your favourite sides!
Notes
See my special homemade twist in cheesy creamy mashed potatoes, flavoured with few roasted ingredients.