This cheesy red lentil pie is the most comforting thing you'll eat this week!
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.
Red 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.
Lots of people expect not to like lentils, but I wholeheartedly recommend trying this recipe – even my meat-eating husband, son and daughter wolf it down and every one of them asks for seconds.
Here’s what to do.
Ingredients
For the filling
- 350 g (12.3 oz) red lentils
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large (1) onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 350 ml (11.8 floz) vegetable stock
- 175 g (6.2 oz) mature cheddar cheese (sharp cheddar) grated (vegetarian if required)
- 1 pinch salt and black pepper
- 1 medium free range eggs
For the pastry
- 150 g (5.3 oz) salted butter cubed
- 225 g (7.9 oz) plain white flour (all purpose flour)
- 225 g (7.9 oz) fine corn meal
- 2 medium free range eggs beaten
- 45ml ice cold water (Up to)
Equipment
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 red 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.
Cheesy Red Lentil Pie with Cornmeal Pastry Recipe
Ingredients
For the filling
- 350 g (12.3 oz) red lentils
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large (1) onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 350 ml (11.8 floz) vegetable stock
- 175 g (6.2 oz) mature cheddar cheese (sharp cheddar) grated (vegetarian if required)
- 1 pinch salt and black pepper
- 1 medium free range eggs
For the pastry
- 150 g (5.3 oz) salted butter cubed
- 225 g (7.9 oz) plain white flour (all purpose flour)
- 225 g (7.9 oz) fine corn meal
- 2 medium free range eggs beaten
- 45ml ice cold water (Up to)
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!
Video
Nutrition
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Rhian Westbury says
Anything with extra added cheese is always good in my books, sounds tasty x
Rebecca | AAUBlog says
the pastry looks like perfection with the crackle like that. Yummy! Love a good pie in my life! :)
Charli Bruce says
Oh, how lovely does this sound and look. I love lentils and love pastry, definitely one to add to the 'to cook' pile x
Charli says
This looks so tasty! I eat a lot of lentils but have never considered adding them to a pie before!
C x
Ana De- Jesus says
Aw yay a vegetarian meal that is perfect for me! I love lentil but I have never tried a cheesy lentil pie before! Judging by your cheesy lentil pie photos though it looks absolutely heavenly x
Sarah Bailey says
What an interesting sounding pastry, I have to admit I've not tried making my own pie from scratch, but this sound good so I need to give the recipe a try!
Eleanor says
Do you think the pastry could be made with wholemeal flour? Thanks. :)
Emily Leary says
Yes you could use wholemeal flour. You'll probably need less water.
Carol says
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?
Emily Leary says
It's quite firm - you can cut slices. If chilled then the filling is as firm as a quiche.
Nicola says
This looks delicious! How many people does it serve?
Emily Leary says
:) 6 generous portions, 8 more sensibly sized ones. It's fairly deep filled so quite a hearty meal.
Andrea Mynard says
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!