Indian-spiced lentil and vegetable pastry puffs

This post has been sitting in draft form for some 9 months now. That may highlight the frequency (or infrequency) of our pastry-based meals! Still, every now and then pastry does appeal to me. It is an easy way to turn standard ingredients into something a little bit special, and it makes for classic homemade comfort food. 

Pastry puffs with a simple kale salad

The first time I made these lentil and vegetable pastry puffs, the flavours weren't quite right. We agreed that they needed some kind of relish or chutney, perhaps tomato. I thought the filling could do with more spice too. The recipe was shelved for future revisions, and there it remained until this month.

Pastry puffs with coleslaw

I am glad I remembered to return to this meal, as with some tweaks the puffs proved delicious. As you may have noticed, we didn't serve them with tomato chutney, and instead used a mango chutney (store bought) that we had opened for another dish and needed to use up. I did add tomato paste to the lentil mix, and also made use of garlic as well as a little more curry powder. Those are quite small tweaks from my original recipe, but they were enough to take the dish from average to excellent. In fact, I was quite happy to eat some of my puffs without any chutney at all.

This meal was served with his-and-hers salads, in the form of a simple kale mix for me and a homemade coleslaw for Mr Bite. I love kale as much as I dislike traditional coleslaw, and Mr B loves coleslaw as much as he dislikes raw kale. Thus, this was a good opportunity to cater to our respective tastes and we were both satisfied with our individualised sides!

I know some people view pastry as fiddly and difficult to work with, but I have always found puff pastry quite manageable. I will say that buying it in sheets (as I have always done in Australia) makes things easier than buying a block and needing to cut and roll the pastry yourself (as I did here). Still, even that was manageable, if a little messier. The main thing is to keep the pastry from drying out, and I usually cover the main block of pastry with a tea towel while I'm working with individual sections. Puff pastry is quite flexible and forgiving, and if you do tear it, it's generally easy to patch. As my top and bottom photos show, I'm also quite relaxed about gaps in pastry and don't mind if some of the filling does sneak through!

While you can make puff pastry from scratch, I find that most varieties are vegan and have fairly straightforward ingredient lists. Thus, I tend to take the store bought option - but feel free to substitute in homemade pastry (or a healthified version thereof) if you prefer.

Indian-spiced lentil and vegetable pastry puffs

Homemade comfort food at its best

Vegan

Makes approximately 15 medium pastry puffs, to serve 4 to 5 with a side salad

Author: Bite-Sized Thoughts

Print recipe

Ingredients

 Drizzle olive oil

1 large brown onion, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp dried powdered ginger

1/2 tsp salt

Few cracks black pepper

1 small bunch chives, roughly chopped

3 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 large pepper, chopped

3 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup water

2 cups cooked brown lentils (I'm sure other types would work too)

Approximately 1/4 cup non-dairy milk of choice, for brushing the pastry

Approximately 350g puff pastry

Chutney or relish, to serve

Method

To prepare the filling, heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, and saute the onion and garlic with the curry powder and ginger. When fragrant and golden, add in the salt, pepper, chives, carrots, pepper and tomato paste. Reduce heat to low and allow to cook for approximately 5 minutes, adding water if needed to prevent sticking.

Add the lentils and any remaining water (or more if required) and allow to cook over low heat for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly before filling the pastry.

While the lentil mix is cooling, heat your oven to 200'C (390'F) and line two baking trays with non-stick paper or foil. 

To make the puffs, cut a triangle of pastry from a rolled out sheet. The triangle should be just big enough to contain a heaped dessertspoon of filling (see image above) and the pastry should be no thicker than 1cm (0.4 inches).

Place a heaped dessertspoon of the lentil mix into the centre of your pastry triangle, and then fold in the triangle sides to cover. Pinch or press the folded edges together to seal. Place on your prepared baking tray and brush with non-dairy milk. Repeat for the remaining puffs.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and has puffed up.

Serve with chutney or relish of choice, and a side salad or extra vegetables.

Note. 

The puffs can be frozen if sealed well, and reheated in the oven when needed. 

What is your favourite pastry-based meal, if you have one?

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