Veggie shepherd's pie

[janeite]

Does anybody have a recipe for aveggie shepherd's pie please, perhaps using lentils, that DOESN'T include a tin of tomatoes. I want it to taste gravy-ish rather than tomato-ey and I don't want to use quorn mince or that ilk if at all possible.

Tia

On the lentil thread is a link to a lentil sheppards pie??

There is yes, thanks - but it has tinned tomatoes in it!

Hopeful bump

just put gravy in instead of tomatoes then

This is good. I tend to make a simpler version - often just use green-brown lentils to the same weight as all the pulses and don't bother with the tomatoes and goats cheese.

Aduki beans are good instead of/to supplement Quorn. Can't help on the tomatoes...I use tons of them in mine!

The Delia one looks nice - but her recipes always seem such a lot of fuss and fiddling. If you leave out the tomatoes, do you replace them with anything?

I wonder if I could cook lentils in some red wine and stock maybe, with some root vege, before topping with the potatoes?

Raven - I've never used aduki beans. Are they the ones that you can sometimes buy frozen?

The Delia one is fab, and IIRC contains sliced tomatoes not tinned.

It is sliced tomatoes - but I don't like them either!

You can buy them frozen yes! Or tinned.

Or just soak dried ones overnight, then boil for about 40 minutes to an hour - they just start to break up, so more mince-like than lentils.

I usually then mix them with lots of sauted veg (peppers, mushrooms, onions, carrots, leeks, whatever we've got), add a big jar of pasta sauce & a tin of toms, handful of frozen peas/sweetcorn, then top with mash as usual.

Not sure what you could replace the pasta sauce & toms with...stock?

Thank you. Will look out for them.

I'm sure if you left out the tomatoes it would still be good.

That's basically what I do (don't normally use wine, but Marigold/Bay leaf etc). Cook an assortment of finely chopped veg eg onion, celery, carrot, swede, parsnip, celeriac in a little oil while the lentils simmer in stock. Then mix together, flavour with soy sauce, worcester sauce, tomato ketchup, herbs, whatever's handy, then top with potato. Sometimes I put cubes of cheddar in the mash.
HTH.

I use tinned tomatoes when I make a shepherds, cottage or veggie pie but I put a good big slosh of lea & Perrins in and that makes it taste lovely. Is that ok for vegetarians? (genuine question, by the way, not piss-taking!)

Lea and Perrins not ok as it contains anchovies. Henderson's Relish is similar and suitable for veggies.

Ok, thanks faintly, I didn't know that.

Things I've found good for adding a bit of depth to veggie stuff like Shepherd's pie are:

Marmite
Miso paste (anywhere between a teaspoon and a dessertspoonful, depending)
Splash (or more) of Teriyaki sauce
Add some porcini mushrooms to the stock (bouillon powder v.good) and soak for 20 mins then add to mince.
I usually end up using a comb of dash and splashes of the above. A splosh of sherry helps sometimes too.

Mixture of browned off onions and some lighter cooked ones. Or use some shallots for extra richness. Mix of red and green lentils (green for the chomp, red for the thicknes).

HTH

Thanks everybody: some fab suggestions here. Will experiment!

Sorry you may be finished with this thread but the pie you need is called Red Dragon Pie and it's delicious. I will find recipe, it's from some superfamous veggie cookbook whose name escapes. Aduki beans.

Here is a version of it but the original is in Sarah Brown's book Vegetarian Kitchen, a great veggie book.

Thank you. Is it not a bit stodgy to have rice and potatoes in one dish? I like the stock combined with various flavouring ingredients basis though, as opposed to "open a tin of tomatoes".

Any luck with the red dragon? Not sure I remember rice in it tbh.

I make a delicious veggie sheperd's pie without tomatoes if you're still interested. Or have you already found the recipe you want?