Vegan meat and potato pie recipe is just vegan comfort food at its best. As well as great for everyday meals, it is also ideal for extra special meals such as for Thanksgiving, festive, Christmas and Easter time. In Scotland, it is traditional to have a New Years Eve steak pie or a pie for New Years Day dinner so this tasty veggie adaptation is the perfect way to welcome in the new year.
Pie dish [or Pyrex/oven dish] [I used a rectangular Pyrex dish 12 inch length x 7-8 inch width x 2 inch deep] [or use a circular dish with similar sizing, enough for 6 portions]
non-stick large saucepan/stew pot
Rolling pin
Pastry brush [or similar can just use fingertips!]
Ingredients
Pastry top
500grampuff pastry block[shop bought vegan friendly] [and a little vegan margarine or butter just to grease the pie dish rim]
1tablespoonolive oil[or rapeseed oil or your usual oil/or ½ cup veggie stock/broth]
530grampotatoeschopped into one inch [2-3cm] chunks
160gramcarrotschopped into chunky bitesize [1-2cm] chunks
150gramonionsdiced [1 large]
4clovesgarlicfine diced/minced or 1 tablespoon garlic puree/paste
2tablespoonplain flour[all-purpose flour or gluten-free plain flour] plus extra for dusting during rolling pastry
1tablespoontomato puree[paste]
2tablespoonsoy sauce
1tablespoonred wine vinegar
1tablespoondried mixed herbs[can make this up with individual dried herbs such as rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, sage, etc, I used 2 teaspoon mixed herbs and 1 teaspoon thyme]
700millilitresvegetable stock[use beef flavour vegan stock if available]
At end of cooking filling
1tablespoonred wine vinegar
Instructions
Rehydrate the soya chunks:
Add the soya chunks to a bowl and cover with about 2½ [650ml] cups of boiling hot vegetable stock. Stir through 1 teaspoon of marmite/yeast extract if available. Leave to soak for at least 30 minutes.
Saute for 8 minutes over a medium heat, stirring every now and then.
Stir the flour through the veggies until it looks like it has disappeared. Next add the tomato puree, dried herbs and the rehydrated and drained soya chunks.
Bring to the boil, lower the heat to medium, and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the veggies are soft and the sauce has reduced and become thick and rich. Give the stew a stir every now and then.
Stir through the extra tablespoon of red wine vinegar.
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Taste the seasoning and add salt and black pepper to taste, although salt is not usually required.
Pour the pie filling into the pie dish.[this stage can be prepped the day before and the filling stored in the refrigerator]
Prepare the pastry top:
Preheat the oven to 180 Fan / 200 C / 400 Fahrenheit / Gas 6.
Grease the pie dish rim with some vegan margarine or butter.
Slice a piece off the pastry block and roll out thin, long pieces of pastry [use the palms of your hands to roll and form the pastry rim]. Prepare enough of the long thin pieces of pastry so that it can go right around the pie/baking dish rim.[* see the 'how to prepare vegan meat and potato pie' section above for step-by-step photos*]
500 gram puff pastry block
Press the long pastry snake like pieces on to the greased pie rim. Brush the pastry rim with some of the soya milk.
1 tablespoon soya milk
Roll out the rest of the puff pastry into a size that will completely cover your pie dish.
Lift the pastry up and press the sides on to the pastry rim. Using a cutlery fork press the edge and rim together. Brush the pie all over with soya milk.
With a knife create two small slits in the middle of the pastry to allow steam to escape during baking.
Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the pastry has risen, is nicely golden, and the filling is steaming and bubbling. *[do check your shop-bought pastry for guidance on oven temps and cooking times as these may vary from what is written here]*
Notes
Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
Serve the pie with a variety of veggies and a good amount of hot vegan gravy for a delicious extra special meal.
Soy curls can replace the soya chunks.
Or dried pea and fava protein chunks or similar can also be used.
Alternatively use about 300-350 grams of fresh or frozen veggie meat alternative chunks/pieces.
Or the same amount of cooked and chopped vegan sausages or burgers, stir the cooked pieces through the stew filling after its finished cooking.
The soya chunks can also be replaced with whole button mushrooms, or sliced mushrooms. Add these along with the veggies.
A can or two of drained white beans such as butterbeans or cannellini can replace the soya chunks.
Marmite is optional but tasty addition as it flavours the soya chunks nicely. In the UK other brands of marmite style paste may be called 'yeast extract'.
The puff pastry used was Morrisons [UK supermarket] own brand puff pastry block which is labelled vegetarian but does not contain animal ingredients. It does have calcium carbonate in the ingredient list but this is usually sourced from rocks when used as a food ingredient, as its the cheapest source.
The puff pastry can be replaced with a cooked veggie mash, such as mashed carrot, parsnips, swede [rutabaga], celeriac, etc.
Or replace the pastry with thin sliced root veggies, blanched or lightly cooked until just fork tender and used to cover the pie filling in a hot-pot style. Season the veggies with salt and pepper, and brush all over with melted margarine, and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast flakes or grated vegan cheese. Bake in a hot oven until veggies are soft and a nicely golden and crisp.
For gluten-free meat and potato pie use a gluten-free pastry either puff or short-crust, or go with a veggie topping, a gluten-free plain flour for the filling, a gluten-free vegan stock and gluten-free soya sauce such as Tamari.