Curried Potato Pasties with Quick Coriander Chutney (2024)

Ingredients

Scale

For the Pastry

• 350g (12 oz) plain (all purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• generous pinch salt
• 75g (2.5 oz) unsalted butter, fridge cold
• 75g (2.5 oz) lard, fridge cold
• 1 egg
• nigella seeds, for sprinkling

For the Curried Potato Filling

• 300g (10.5 oz) potatoes
• 1 1/2 tbsp light oil
• 2 brown onions
• sea salt
• 2 large garlic cloves
• thumb size piece fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• generous handful frozen petit pois
• 3–6 tbsp vegetable stock or water
• freshly squeezed lemon juice, for seasoning

For the Quick Coriander Chutney

• 2 large handfuls fresh coriander (see note)
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger
• 1 green chilli
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp sea salt
• generous pinch sugar
• large handful fresh mint leaves

1. First, make the pastry. In a food processor blitz together the flour, turmeric and salt with the butter and lard until you’ve formed crumbs. Little by little, blitz in splashes of ice cold water until the pastry comes together into a dough.
2. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead gently into smooth ball, only adding a little more flour if it is too sticky to work with. Wrap with food wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
3. While the dough is chilling, make the potato filling. Peel and dice the potatoes, par-boiling them in a pan of boiling salted water for 10 minutes, or until just tender.
4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat and fry the onions, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons with a pinch of salt until soft and just starting to colour; this should take about 8-10 minutes.
5. Add the garlic and the ginger – both peeled and finely grated – and cook for a further minute until aromatic. Add the spices, and again cook for a minute or so until just aromatic.
6. Stir in the peas, followed by the potatoes and 3 tbsp of the vegetable stock or water. Cook for a further minutes until the liquid has thickened into a sauce, but the pan is by no means dry. Set aside to cool.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees (390 fahrenheit). Divide the pastry into either 3 or 5 pieces (depending on the size of the pasties you’re after. Draw around plates twice the size of the pasty size you’re after to trim the circles into perfect rounds.
8. Season the potato mixture to taste with lemon juice and a little more salt if needed. If the mixture seems to dry to form a pasty filling, gradually stir in the remaining stock or water until the mixture is to your liking.
9. Spoon the potatoes onto half of each pastry round, leaving a lip around the edge about the width of your index finger.
10. Lightly beat the egg and paint the edges of the pastry around the potato filling. Fold the pastry over and press to seal each parcel. Crimp the edges – as irritating as I find Paul Hollywood, his video tutorial is quite helpful!
11. Transfer the pasties to parchment lined baking tray (you may need two if you’ve opted to make smaller pasties) and brush the exposed pastry with the remaining egg wash. Sprinkle each generously with nigella seeds.
12. Bake the pasties for 30 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden. Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes after baking before serving.
13. While the pasties are resting, to make the chutney blitz together the coriander, ginger (peeled and finely chopped), the chilli (roughly chopped, remove the seeds and white internal membrane if you don’t like things too spicy), lemon juice, sea salt, sugar and a splash of cold water in a mini chopper. Use a spoon or a small offset rubber spatula to scrape down the sides before adding the mint leaves and blitzing again, adding a little more water if needed to create a paste.

You can make both the pastry and the filling the day before and keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the pasties.

I have very small hands, so if yours are very large, two of my handfuls might just be one of yours!