Homity pies- vegan and non-vegan versions.

The cheesy version on the left was made with white pastry, and the vegan one with wholemeal.

Homity pie is a typically British open pie, the origins of which date back to WW2, when the "land girls" were taking over fruit and veg production, and presumably also cooked up some wartime staples with the produce. The ingredients are simple as food was rationed back then (although the cheese would have been expensive.) Looking for something other then cold pizza or veggie sausages to put in the kids' lunchboxes (they hate sandwiches), I decided to have a go at both non- vegan and vegan versions of individual homity pies. Traditionally they are made with leeks and/ or onions, but we have yoga-ised them and gone for seasoned white cabbage instead. I would also like to add that this pie could just be the perfect picnic food for he English climate- it's great eaten cold al fresco, but in case of rain you can take it home and enjoy it hot while you dry off!

This recipe made about 10 individual pies, or you could make one big pie. We used a Breville "Pie Magic"  to get a neat finish and a perfectly even bake rather than the oven and tins, but you could of course use the traditional method- as outlined in the recipe below:

Pastry made with about 500g flour (see here)
2-3 medium-sized potatoes, sliced very thinly
300g shredded white cabbage
a half quantity of tofu cheese
salt and black pepper to taste
olive oil for shallow-frying
2 tsps brown sugar (optional)
2 tsps compound hing
1 tab dark soy sauce
1 tsp seasalt

• Make the pastry and set aside somewhere cool.
• Shallow-fry the cabbage in the oil, adding the sugar, hing, soy sauce and salt in this order- you should end up with something roughly like fried onions.
• Steam the potato slices until soft but not crumbling.
• Roll out your pastry (if using oil it's easier and less messy to do this between sheets of clingfilm).
• Cut either small circles or a large one and line an oiled tin(s) of your choice with it.
• Put in the cabbage first, then layer up the potatoes until they reach the top of the pie. Finish with a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper.
• If you are using cheese, then top with grated Cheddar. If not go straight to the next step, which is:
• Bake in a preheated oven at 200C until the pastry is crisp.
• For the vegan pies, top with tofu cheese now and grill until slightly brown on top. Use some chopped curly or flat-leaved parsley to garnish.

http://cuisinedelights.blogspot.in/2013/03/announcement-of-spotlight-april-theme.html

http://riappyayan.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/announcement-of-my-event-spotlight.html

This goes to Chandrani and Indrani's event: "Show Your Best" (links above- please do check out their great sites). I will upload the logo as soon as I can...