Bonfire Feast: Slightly Spicy Wholemeal Vegetable Pasties

These pasties were my first foray into crimping, and there is definitely a technique to it! I don't think I'm quite there yet, but I will say that I found crimping a really therapeutic thing to do - like with baking bread, there is a nice process involved in making these pasties and I hope you enjoy baking them as much as I do! 

 The pastry in these pasties is a little old school in that it uses suet as well as butter, but the result is a lovely crisp yet crumbly pastry, which is wrapped around a filling of vegetables flavoured with curry paste. This recipe is easily adaptable so you can add whatever veggies you want, or you could even chuck some cooked chicken or beef in there too! You end up with a slightly spicy pasty, great for warming you up on a chilly autumn evening, and even better to munch on during a firework display.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

140g wholemeal plain flour

140g plain white flour

85g butter, diced

85g shredded vegetable suet

75ml milk

For the filling:

2 medium sized white potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 red onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

half a head of broccoli, cut into small florets

a handful of frozen peas

3tbsp curry paste (I used a korma paste)

1 egg, beaten

- These vegetables are just a suggestion, but you can chuck in whatever you've got lying around. You can also use whichever curry paste you prefer - 

Makes 6 pasties

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C, grease a baking tray.

2. To make the pastry place all the ingredients except the milk into a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly add the milk a little at a time until the pastry comes together (If you don't have a food processor, rub the flours together with the butter and suet until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs and add the milk until the pastry comes together), turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until soft. Wrap in clingfilm and chill while you make the filling.

3. Heat a pan of salted water and add the potato and sweet potato. Boil for 8 minutes until almost cooked, then add the carrots, broccoli and peas. Cook for a further 5 minutes until all the vegetables are soft, then drain.

4. Whilst your vegetables are boiling, heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and cook the red onion until soft. Add the curry paste and cook for a further minute or so then add the drained vegetables with a splash of water and cook for another couple of minutes, until all the veggies are coated and your kitchen smells awesome. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

5. Next roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface, to about a ½ cm thickness. Place a cereal bowl rim side down on the pasty and cut around it using a knife. This will leave you with a large circle of pastry. Place this circle on a baking tray and place about 2 spoonfuls of vegetable mixture in the centre of the circle. Brush around the edges with milk and fold over to make a parcel, now crimp around the pastry to seal in the mixture - the easiest way to do this is to pinch and fold your way around the semi-circle. 

6. Repeat this for the remaining pasties, then place on the baking tray and brush liberally with the beaten egg. Place in the centre of the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the pasties are golden brown. 

The pasties can be eaten straight away, or left to cool and reheated to piping hot in the oven. Great for keeping your hands (and your belly!) warm while you stand outside enjoying the fireworks.