Curried Vegetable Pie With Chickpea Crust

I just love pie...especially when you can eat it for dinner! I’ve only tried curry maybe twice, so I’m not that used to it. But, I like it more and more each time. This is a hearty meal with a protein packed crust (Plus this pie has one of my favorite ingredients…peanut butter!). It’s a lot of chopping and preparing for the filling, but I found I could make the crust while the veggies were cooking at the last stages. This pie also freezes well. I have a few slices in my deep freezer and take one to work for lunch when I need something healthy. Curried Vegetable Pie with Chickpea Crust

Crust:
½ cup cooked or canned chickpeas
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cumin
1/3 cup vegetable shortening or margarine
3 tbsp water

Filling:
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped (your choice)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cauliflower, chopped
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
½ cup cooked or canned chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tsp curry powder
2 small tomatoes, chopped
½ cup vegetable stock
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
2 tbsp peanut butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a blender or food processor, puree the chickpeas and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and cumin. Add the chickpeas, shortening, and water. Mix together until a dough forms. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 3-5 minutes. Cut dough into two pieces. Roll out both pieces to fit an 8-inch pie plate. Place one on the bottom and reserve the other for the top.

In a large saucepan on medium heat, sauté the carrots, onion, celery and pepper in oil until onions are translucent.
Add the cauliflower, peas, chickpeas, garlic and curry. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, stock, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer until cauliflower is tender (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Pour mixture into crust and lay the reserved crust dough on top.

Bake 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe from "The Garden of Vegan" by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer

Enjoy!
Jenna :)