Vegan Steak and Onion Pies (I'm back!)

Hello, I'm back!

I've been occupied with some other important stuff recently, but I am back with a vegan vengeance, and I will more than make up for my absence with this recipe! Honestly, I don't exaggerate when I say that this is the best experiment that I've tried since turning vegan 12 months ago. Easy, quick-ish, and just a few ingredients needed. And did I mention totally delicious?

Ingredients

• Vegan steak strips (I used Fry's Vegetarian Chunky Strips)
• Soy sauce (optional)
• Yeast extract (optional, but you'll want to use it!)
• Vegan gravy granules
• White onions
• Vegetable oil
• Vegetable stock, preferably homemade (see mine here)
• Shop-bought puff pastry
• Some suitable foil pie tins

The Method

First, chop your onions into thin strips, then fry your steak strips and onion strips and in a little vegetable oil until lightly browned.




Next, it's gravy time - add to the pan your vegetable stock (enough to almost cover your steak strips), stir in a generous teaspoon of yeast extract and a good splash of soy sauce, then stir in the gravy granules until the desired thickness is reached.






All that's left to do now is to roll out your pastry. Roll it to a thickness of about 3 - 5 mm, then for each pie cut a larger circle to form the base of your pie, and a smaller circle to form the lid. Fill each pie with a decent ladle. Now, using a little water on the end of your finger, wet the edge of the pastry around the filling and pop the lid on top. Pinch all around the outside to seal. When sealed, cut a couple if slits into the lid with a sharp knife to let the steam out during cooking.












Finally, bake! You should follow the instructions from the pastry packet - I baked these at Gas Mark 6 for around 20 mins.

TOP TIP!!!

Don't you hate it when you've cut out all the circles that your rolled-out pastry can fit, but there is still loads of pastry left? Yes, you could re-roll it, but it's never the same! Well, I have a plan to solve this issue - semi-circles!!

If there's no room for a full circle, just cut two semi-circles with a strip of pastry to bind the two together. Then, just lay the two parts of the lid over the top of the pie and, using a finger-full of water, bind the two together with the strip. The same can be done with the base. Problem solved!

The Result

I never thought I would eat a steak pie again, and it's true, I won't, but this is as good (or maybe better!) in my opinion! I marked this one with a "C" for my name - that's another thing you can do with your pastry scraps!

I was a bit naughty - I'm afraid I served up my lovely pie with chip-shop chips and mushy peas. Unhealthy but decadent and totally worth it!

Freezing

The pies can be frozen after assembly but before cooking, but I would recommend that you defrost them before cooking. I tried this and cooking straight from frozen, and although the frozen pie was fine, the defrosted version was definitely superior.


Give them a try, and I hope you enjoy them!

Callum