Red dragon pie

Red Dragon Pie

As I’ve only recently moved to Cardiff, I was planning to seek out some Welsh vegetarian recipes, but this first one is a bit of a cheat…

I was first cooked this dish when staying with a friend in Carmarthen, and what with the name, you can see why I might have thought it was a traditional Welsh recipe!

It turns out the name actually comes from the adzuki beans, which are known as “red dragon” beans in China.

Anyway, it’s a wonderfully warming dish, perfect for those cold, dark winter evenings.

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 2 tins of adzuki beans (or 200g dried beans)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 250g carrots, diced
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• ¼ pint stock
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1-2 tbsps soy sauce
• Black pepper
• 450g potatoes, sliced
• 25g butter
• Olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Fry the onion and carrot in olive oil until soft. Add the garlic and fry for another minute.
3. Add the beans, chopped tomato, stock, herbs, soy sauce and freshly ground pepper to taste. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes, before reducing the liquid to a thick sauce. Transfer the mixture to a pie dish.
4. Parboil the potato slices for 5 mins, then arrange on top of the filling.
5. Dot with butter and a drizzle of olive oil.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are nicely browned.

Enjoy…

Photo: Draig Goch via Flickr