Winter Bean and Vegetable Pie- vegan

This pie is great hot with corn on the cob 

Simple and hearty fare on a Winters' day with no fancy ingredients- that's what today's recipe is all about. This is a real store-cupboard meal, as you can use up any veg you have, and you can use canned or dried beans. (We cook up big batches of beans then freeze them for future use; much nicer than tinned.) The crust is only on the top of the pie, thus cutting down the fat content, and the pastry is made with olive oil and wholemeal flour. This recipe makes 6 good-sized portions.

For the wholemeal pastry recipe: 

See here: you will need to adjust the proportions so that you get 800g of it. 

Filling:

850g diced and sliced mixed seasonal vegetables (pumpkin, parsnip, broccoli, cauliflower,celery, peppers, sweet potato etc.)

450g cooked red kidney beans (or any similar-sized bean)

olive oil for stir-frying

Gravy/Sauce:

2 tabs olive oil

2 tabs gram flour (aka chickpea/garbanzo/gram)

3 tabs soy sauce./tamari/ liquid aminos

600ml soya milk

1 1/2 tsps seasalt

1/2 tsp compound hing

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsps dried thyme

...plus a little soya milk and some sesame or sunflower seeds for the top

• Make the pastry, wrap and chill -the pastry that is, not you ;)- in the fridge.
• Stir-fry or sweat the veggies in a little olive oil until soft.
• Meanwhile, make the sauce. gently heat the oil, add the gram flour and mix well. Slowly add the soy sauce until you a have a paste. Gradually whisk in the soya milk, keeping the heat gentle. The sauce should thicken.
• When it's thickened and all the milk has been added, turn off the heat and stir in all the seasonings.
• Mix the veggies and sauce together and turn into an oven-proof dish about 36x26cm. (Roasting tin size).
• Now roll out the pastry into a rectangle to fit on top of the vegetables and sauce: it should be about 4mm thick. Tip: drape the rolled out pastry over your rolling pin to help transfer it to the dish. Roll the edges over and mark with a knife to make a pattern. Make slits in the top at regular intervals to let the steam out when it's cooking.
• Brush with soya milk and sprinkle on the sesame or sunflower seeds.
• Bake for about 15 mins in an oven preheated to 200C, or until the pie is heated through and the top is nice and brown and crispy.

For another take on bean and vegetable pie, see here