Lentil pie was my mum’s signature dish when we were little. I have fond memories of the smell wafting through from the kitchen after school.
My recreation of the protein-rich recipe comes pretty close to the warming, delicious flavours I remember, but has a rather special cornmeal pastry that I developed in another recent experiment. As a family we now prefer it over traditional shortcrust for pies like this.
Lots of people expect not to like lentils, but I wholeheartedly recommend trying this recipe – even my meat-eating husband, son and daughter wolfed it down and every one of them asked for seconds.
Here’s what to do…
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 350g (12.5 oz) red lentils
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 350ml vegetable stock
- 175g mature cheddar cheese, grated
- Salt and pepper.
- 1 egg
For the pastry:
- 150g (5 oz) salted butter, cubed
- 225g plain flour
- 225g (8 oz) fine corn meal
- 2 free range medium eggs, beaten
- Up to 45ml ice cold water
Instructions
To make the filling
An hour or two before you start cooking, rinse the lentils well and then leave them in warm water to soak.
Warm the oil in a large saucepan over a low heat, then add the onion, garlic and oregano and fry until soft.
Drain and rinse the lentils and add to the pan.
Stir in the stock and turn up the heat. As soon as it boils, turn down to a simmer, cover and leave for 10 minutes – the lentils should absorb all of the liquor and turn soft and pale.
Take off the heat, stir in the grated cheese, season to taste.
Once the mixture has cooled a little, stir in one beaten egg then leave to cool completely.
To make the pastry:
Put the flour, cornmeal and cold, cubed butter into a bowl and rub into a crumb.
Add ¾ of the beaten eggs (keeping ¼ back for later) and cut into the crumb with a round knife.
Add the water a little a time until you can press the mix together to get a manageable dough.
Bring together and knead into smooth ball, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.
To assemble:
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F (180C/355F fan). Grab your chilled pastry and cut off one third, which you can rewrap. Roll the larger piece of dough out on a floured surface and until your disc is about 30cm wide.
Line a 23 cm nonstick quiche tin with the pastry and set aside, leaving the overhang untrimmed.
Tip the cooled lentil filling into the pastry-lined dish and brush the exposed pastry edges with water.
Roll out the remaining pastry to form a disc just a couple of centimetres wider than you tip and place on top.
Press the edges with a fork to seal, then trim away any excess pastry.
Brush the top with the beaten egg you reserved earlier, then make a couple of slits in the centre with the end of a sharp knife.
Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Allow to cool a little before cutting into slices. Enjoy!
Fancy trying it? Let me know if you do! Here’s the recipe in printable form.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 350ml vegetable stock
- 175g mature cheddar cheese, grated
- Salt and pepper.
- 1 egg
- 150g (5 oz) salted butter, cubed
- 225g plain flour
- 225g (8 oz) fine corn meal
- 2 free range medium eggs, beaten
- Up to 45ml ice cold water
- An hour or two before you start cooking, rinse the lentils well and then leave them in warm water to soak.
- Warm the oil in a large saucepan over a low heat, then add the onion, garlic and oregano and fry until soft.
- Drain and rinse the lentils and add to the pan.
- Stir in the stock and turn up the heat. As soon as it boils, turn down to a simmer, cover and leave for 10 minutes – the lentils should absorb all of the liquor and turn soft and pale.
- Take off the heat, stir in the grated cheese, season to taste.
- Once the mixture has cooled a little, stir in one beaten egg then leave to cool completely.
- Put the flour, cornmeal and cold, cubed butter into a bowl and rub into a crumb.
- Add ¾ of the beaten eggs (keeping ¼ back for later) and cut into the crumb with a round knife.
- Add the water a little a time until you can press the mix together to get a manageable dough.
- Bring together and knead into smooth ball, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/390F (180C/355F fan). Grab your chilled pastry and cut off one third, which you can rewrap. Roll the larger piece of dough out on a floured surface and until your disc is about 30cm wide.
- Line a 23 cm nonstick quiche tin with the pastry and set aside, leaving the overhang untrimmed.
- Tip the cooled lentil filling into the pastry-lined dish and brush the exposed pastry edges with water.
- Roll out the remaining pastry to form a disc just a couple of centimetres wider than you tip and place on top.
- Press the edges with a fork to seal, then trim away any excess pastry.
- Brush the top with the beaten egg you reserved earlier, then make a couple of slits in the centre with the end of a sharp knife.
- Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
- Allow to cool a little before cutting into slices. Enjoy!
PIN ME
Do you think the pastry could be made with wholemeal flour? Thanks. :)
Yes you could use wholemeal flour. You’ll probably need less water.
I would like to know if with this recipe the pie turns out for like a quiche in the sense that when you cut it the pie stays in tact (very firm). Or is it more like a meat pie when the inside of the pie oozes out of the pastry when you cut it?
It’s quite firm – you can cut slices. If chilled then the filling is as firm as a quiche.
This looks delicious! How many people does it serve?
:) 6 generous portions, 8 more sensibly sized ones. It’s fairly deep filled so quite a hearty meal.
Have just bought lots of lentils as it seems the weather now for healthy comforting meals with lots of pulses – and they’re so cheap! I had in mind some Indian curries and a pumpkin and lentil bake topped with cheesy mash – but this looks great. Added to my list to bake. Your pastry looks so perfect, it makes your pie look so scrummy!
ooooh this is a very interesting sounding recipe, i would like to use lentils more in my cooking and this might be a way to do that. the pastry looks fab x
Thank you very much Emily for your very fast and precise reply. Now I’ll know what to look for when I go shopping! It may take a while before I actually try your recipe but it is a MUST DO. Thanks again.
Mary
You were signposted on Onions and Paper blog, so here I am. Your pie looks wonderful – I’d love to have a go but I’m not sure what ‘corn meal’ is. Would ‘corn flour’ be the same product or a good substitute? I’ve seen recipes use it in sweet pastry but its usually used as a thickener.
Many thanks.
Mary Mac
Hi Mary! Thanks for visiting. Corn meal is also maize flour or fine polenta. I found ours in the Indian supplies aisle of ASDA with the curry pastes etc. It’s a bright yellow flour, slightly coarser than normal wheat flour but not as fine or pale as corn flour. Hope that helps!
just found this via jane willis and love the sound of it. Rose Elliot was one of my favourite cookbook authors from the time I became veg and I thought I had the bean book – even had a quick look but it is not there or I would check out this recipe. But I suspect I would prefer your cornmeal pastry – I have a cornmeal pastry for a quiche that I love and the pastry looks great and easy to handle from the photos. Am bookmarking this for the cooler weather
I made this last night and it was gorgeous.I love the cornmeal pastry – it’s far easier to handle than shortcrust yet not at all tough, as easy to handle party often is. And the filling was delicious – incredibly cheap to make too. Definitely one I’ll be making again. I might try varying it by adding some lightly fried mushrooms next time.
I’ve bloggedabout it now and included a link to your post http://onionsandpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/bookmarked-recipe-cheesy-lentil-pie.html
This is wonderful – thank you! :)
Looks great – but I am going to be lazy and make it with Jus-Roll pastry…
That looks so delicious! And what a great way to incorporate lentils in a meal!
I will have to try this one, looks yummy xx
mmmmm, that looks nice. I love lentils.
Another one to try – nice!