Open Faced Curried Potato Crust Pie

Open-faced Curried Potato-Crust Pie
Photo: G. Sharmila 

After a long hiatus from this blog, it's a relief to be blogging again. Blogging is a bit like riding a bicycle; once you get the hang of it, you never forget how to do it. The same goes for cooking, this time around I made an open-faced curried pie with a potato crust. There's a little story behind that: the dough I made for the original crust turned out too crumbly, so I froze it to make a crust for a fruit cobbler for later. In the dough's place, I boiled six potatoes to make the pie crust and let them cool before peeling them. Then I mashed the potatoes up (with salt, black pepper and butter mixed in) for the crust, and filled it in with the curried vegetable mixture once the crust was lightly browned.

Here's the original crust recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/broccoli-quiche-with-mashed-potato-crust/detail.aspx:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes; drain. Meanwhile, place broccoli in a steamer over 1 inch of boiling water, and cover. Cook until tender but still firm, about 2 to 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. Mash the potatoes with milk and salt. Brush a deep 9 inch pie dish with olive oil and press the potatoes in. Brush with remaining olive oil. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Curried Vegetable Mixture (adapted from BBC Good Food's “Curried Vegetable Pie” recipe)

  2 tbsp canola oil

  1 onion, finely chopped

  2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp curry powder

1 ½ cups cauliflower florets

1 cup mixed frozen vegetable

¼ butter

4 tbsp yogurt

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

4 cloves

half a stick of cinnamon

  4 cardamom seeds 

1. Heat oil in a large pan, then cook the onion, garlic and chilli for 2-3 mins until tender. Stir in the spices, turmeric and cumin, then cook for a further 2-3 mins.

2. Add mixed vegetables and cauliflower to the pan with 300ml/1/2pt water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 mins until the vegetables are almost tender. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid, then mix with the peas.

3. Melt butter in a small pan, stir in flour, then cook for 1 min. Add reserved vegetable cooking liquid, then cook, stirring, until it forms a thick sauce. Simmer for 3 mins, stirring, then remove from heat and stir in the yogurt, coriander, vegetables and seasoning. Leave to cool.4. Brush baked potato crust with vegetable oil. Fill in with curried vegetable mixture and return to oven. Baked for 35-40 minutes at 190 deg. Celsius or until crust is lightly browned.