As a young person most of my family holidays were down in Cornwall. During one visit to Cornwall I remember obsessively being taken round most of the pastie shops (all of which claimed t have the best) and sampling their pasties. That flaky pastry and rich savory filling, what wasn’t to love about the pastie? Well obviously the animal product in them. When I went vegan I completely forgot about the existence of this comforting pastry, until a few days ago when I found myself craving it non stop! So I obviously had to make some. I’ve added porcini mushrooms for their rich savory flavor, now get baking and stuff your face!

The pastry:
4 cups strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
pinch o’ cracked black pepper
3/4 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, diced
up to 1 3/4 cup cold water

The filling:
3/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms
1 1/2 cup freshly boiled water

1 onion, diced
1/2 cup dried green lentils, rinsed well
1 bay leaf
1 tsp stock powder
2 tbsp mushroom ketchup
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp fresh thyme leafs
2 waxy potatoes, diced into 3/4 inch pieces
salt and pepper to season

olive oil to brush the top

Method:
Start by placing the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pouring over the boiled water, cover the bowl with a plate and leave to the side whilst you make your pastry.

Grab a mixing bowl and measure your flour into it, stir through the turmeric, black pepper and salt. Drizzle in the olive oil and stir to coat the flour (this helps prevent over mixing). Rub the vegetable shortening in with your finger tips until it has been evenly dispersed and “crumbed” in. Add the cold water a little at a time and stir gently, keep adding water and stirring gently until the dough comes together. Once you have your dough, wrap it in cling film and pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes, or how ever long it takes you to do the filling.

To make the filling, saute the chopped onion in a pan with the olive oil until translucent, spoon the mushrooms out of the liquid with a slotted spoon and pop on a plate to add in later, strain the mushroom liquid/stock through a fine mesh sieve and pour into the saucepan. Add the lentils, mushrooms, bay leaf, stock powder, and dried herbs. Bring to the boil, then down to a simmer and cook for about 25-30 minutes, adding more hot water if needed. Once the lentils are tender, stir through the rest of the thyme, nutritional yeast and the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes before seasoning with salt and pepper and removing from the heat and remove your bayleaf.

Pop the oven onto 180c/360f to preheat and grab your dough out of the fridge. Sliced the dough into four/six even pieces – depending on how big you want your pasties – and roll into rough circles about 1/4 inch think, spoon the filling onto one half of the pastry leaving a 1/2 inch gap around the edge, brush the edge with water, fold over, seal and crimp if desired. Place the formed pasties on lined baking sheets and bake for 30- 40 minutes, until golden and starting to brown. Remove from oven and serve what ever way you wish! (I love pasties with chips and gravy when I’m having a “fat” day).