Lentil Shepherds Pie

Lentil Shepherds Pie 159wm

YOU NEED

oil or water for cooking
1 large brown onion, peeled and finely diced
2-3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 large unpeeled carrots, grated (2 cups)
2 cups of celery, washed and finely sliced
1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
½ tablespoon of ground coriander
3 tablespoons of curry powder
1 ½ cups of green/brown lentils, rinsed well
5 cups of gluten free vegetable stock
1 can of crushed tomatoes
6 cups of brown potatoes, peeled and diced (any type that are good for mashing)
¼ cup of gluten free plant based milk, such as almond or rice milk
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 bunch of fresh coriander, washed and roughly chopped

YOU DO
Gently heat a little oil (or water) in a large pot and sauté the onion till softened. Add the garlic and stir for another minute or two. Add the carrot and celery and cook for another 5 minutes.

Dry roast the spices in a small pan on low heat, stirring frequently for a minute or two to bring out their fragrance.

Add the spices, lentils, tomato puree and stock to the pot and stir to combine. Bring it all to the boil, then turn the heat down to a very gentle simmer. Cook the lentils, uncovered till they are tender (approximately 45 minutes). Add a little extra stock if you need to, but you don’t want the lentils to be too watery or the mash potato will just fall into them.

While the lentils are cooking, get a large pot of water on to boil. Cook the potatoes until tender. Once they are tender, add the milk. Mash it all together till you get a nice smooth piping consistency. Add a little extra milk of you need to. Season well with the salt and add pepper to taste.

Once the lentils are ready, stir the fresh coriander through them. Place them into a baking dish and allow them to cool a little.

Place a large piping nozzle into a piping bag and spoon some mashed potato into it. The mash needs to be quite hot to pipe well, so wrap a tea towel around the piping bag so you can hold it without burning yourself. Pipe rosettes onto the lentils until they are all covered.

Pop the baking dish into a preheated oven at about 180c and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the potato starts to brown.

Yields: Serves 4 very hungry people or 6 not so hungry people.

Time: 30 minutes preparation. 1 hour of cooking time.

Notes: If you use different lentils, they will take either more or less time to cook depending on which ones you choose This will alter how much stock you need and the overall flavor of the dish.

The smaller you cut your potatoes the quicker they will cook.

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