Veggie Cottage Pie

Veggie Cottage Pie

This is a U-cook vegetarian option from a few months ago. I can never find these recipes online, so I'm posting them here. They're great - healthy and tasty, and if you'd like to sign up (they deliver all the ingredients for 3 meals for portion sizes of your choice on a Monday) you can find them on ucook.co.za.

1200g SweetPotato 
240g Cooked Lentils 
240g Chickpeas
4 Garlic Clove
2 Onion
40g Ginger
2 Chillies
800g Cooked Chopped Tomato 
200ml Coconut Milk
240g Peas
10g Fresh Basil 
80g Rocket

Spice Mix
20ml Brown Sugar
8ml Turmeric
6ml Medium Curry Powder
6ml Ground Cumin

Preheat your oven to 200°C. Ready a tinfoil-lined baking tray. Rinse, dry and peel sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized cubes. Spread out in an even layer on your baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, toss to coat. Add a splash of water (about 60ml) and cover your dish with a tinfoil lid. In a hot oven, pop the sweet potato in to bake for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through. 

Finely dice onions. Peel and grate  ginger and garlic. Drain the chickpeas and lentils. Deseed and finely slice chillies.

Place a saucepan over a medium-high heat with some cooking oil. When hot, add your ginger, garlic, onion and chilli, stir to coat and season with some salt. Fry for 4-6 minutes until turning golden. Add the Spice Mix, stir to combine and fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Then add  cooked chopped tomatoes, cook for 8-12 minutes. Add  drained lentils, chickpeas and coconut milk. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. When simmering, reduce heat and let simmer for 12-15 minutes, until reduced slightly. Taste to test and season further. Lastly add your peas.

Once the sweet potatoes have softened, remove from the oven and add to a bowl. Mash with a masher or the back of a fork. You could use a splash of milk, a drizzle of olive oil or a knob of butter to help make it a smooth mixture – the choice is yours! Taste to test and season with salt and pepper.

To an ovenproof dish, spread out the lentil-chickpea mixture and top with the sweet potato mash. Spread it out with a fork creating classic cottage lines in the mash. Place into your oven to bake until the filling is heated through and turning golden, about 5-10 minutes. Turn the oven onto grill to lightly colour the top of the cottage pie – this should take about 3-5 minutes. 

Rinse and dry your rocket and basil. Place your rocket and basil leaves into a bowl and dress with some olive oil and salt.

Serve and enjoy.