Spiced Potato Pie

It's been a while since I've shared a baking recipe - honestly, I only stopped doing it because I stopped baking. We will talk about what happened sooner or later, but not right now.

I could sit here and tell you a story about me making seeded vanilla gingerbread men and being a complete nutcase with the flavouring a few days ago (which my mum really liked). But instead, I'll just tell you this: I wanted to get away from a screen and I was bored between books.

So let's just say I tried something. I've made sweet potato pie before but this was different. This wan't creamy, this wasn't 'sweet' and dessert-like. Instead, this needed to be a savoury, spiced treat. Only having made sweet pies definitely wasn’t in my favour but here we go anyway.

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We’ll start with how I made the pastry…

Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients

• 250g Plain Flour
• 125g Softened Butter
• Pinch of Salt
• Pinch of Pepper
• 1 Shot of Vinegar + Baking Soda

How To:

1. Place butter and flour into a mixing bowl along with the salt and pepper
2. Rub these ingredients together until you get breadcrumbs
3. Add the mixed shot of vinegar and baking soda and mix again until it comes together as a dough
4. Having trouble making it come together? add touches of warm water until it happens. And I mean absolute touches of warm water
5. Cover in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour

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Now, let's move on to what I put inside the pie. I was quite surprised this worked actually. The reason I did it is really because I didn't want the potatoes expiring and it didn't look like anyone was eating them soon. Please be mindful with this next section, I am of Nothern Indian descent and so, there's going to be a lot of strange spices you might not find in the average kitchen. Leave yourself some time to gather these if you want to make the dish...

Filling

Ingredients:

• 3 Baking Potatoes (big ones if you can)
• 3 Tablespoons of Softened Butter
• 7 Leaves of Spinach (or 1/2 a handful if you don't want to count)
• 2 Teaspoons of Orange Blossom Honey (or just normal honey but this one is the one I used)
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1 Teaspoon of Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon of Paprika
• 1 Teaspoon of Turmeric
• 1 Pinch of Red Chilli Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Parsley
• 1 Teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• 1 Teaspoon of Ground Green Cardamom
• 1 Pinch of Cinnamon Powder
• 1 Pinch of Ground Cumin
• 1 Pinch of Ground Cloves

How To:

1. Peel the potatoes
2. Set the potatoes to boil (make sure the water is boiling before you put the potatoes in) for about 20 minutes to half an hour
3. Whilst the potatoes are boiling, mix together all of the spices in a bowl (including the salt, pepper) and set aside
4. After the potatoes are done, drain and mash with the butter, honey and spinach mixed in
5. When the potatoes have been mashed, add the spices and continue to mix with a fork to make sure nothing clumps up
6. Set the mixture aside

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Okay, so we're back to the pastry. We've been boiling potatoes and mashing them up for about half an hour to 45 minutes and so our pastry should be completely done and chilled.

Shortcrust Pastry Part 2

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius
2. Roll out the pastry to the size of your pie dish (preferably use one that has the depth of your average apple pie)
3. Place the pastry into the pie dish
4. With the remaining pastry, cut into decorate pieces you will use later (I chose flowers - I hope they look like flowers)
5. If you have baking beads, then place them atop your pastry in the pastry dish to stop it rising/bubbling. If not, then you can use another baking tin you have. Do not push it down, just place it on top
6. Blind bake pastry for about 5-10 minutes
7. Take it out of the oven and set it aside (if you've got baking beads in there you might want to wait for them to cool a bit since they get hotter than any baking tin)

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Almost there, don't worry...

Pastry and Filling - Final Stage

Ingredients

• A Handful of Cherry Tomatoes to decorate
• The Pastry Decorations You Have Made
• A Tablespoon of Milk

How To:

1. Make sure your oven is still preheated to 200 degrees celsius
2. Remove your baking beads or tin from your pastry and fill with the potato filling, evening it out with a spatula
3. Chop your cherry tomatoes in half lengthwise and decorate using them and your pastry shapes
4. Use a brush or the back of a spoon to glaze your pastry shapes with the milk
5. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, making sure the pastry doesn't burn. Add an extra five minutes if the pastry still needs to brown
6. Remove from the oven and wait to cool...

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If this is a fairly successful thing I might return to baking recipes. If you want more of my baking recipes (the old ones) then head to my profile and click on the 'feast' category.

Thanks a lot, I hope you liked it.