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What We’re Cooking This Weekend: Vegan Curry Hand Pies

JD Raymundo
|Updated Jan 31, 2020

What’s better than curry for dinner? Curry made into a pie! And what's even better than a curry pie? Curry made into a pie that you can eat with your hands! Technically, you can eat any curry pie with your hands, but one will leave you looking like a 3-year old finger painting with your face as the canvas and ours is intended to be eaten utensil-free.

No judgment if you lean towards the former but The Beet prefers to save ourselves the cleanup and opt for these Vegan Curry Hand Pies, which will please any curry lover. If you aren’t a fan of curry, then there's even more of a reason for you to stick around, because this recipe will change your mind. These pies are like soft, flaky pockets that burst with flavor and spice at every bite.

Let’s talk about some tips for making this recipe. There are two main components here, the curry itself and the dough. The key to making a soft, flaky pie dough is working with cold ingredients; cold vegan butter and cold water. If you have a pastry cutter, that will help mix the cold butter into your flour. If not, you can always use your hands, just be fairly quick, as the warmth of your hands will eventually melt the butter. When assembling your hand pies, don’t stress over trying to make it perfect! Some hand pies may be bigger, some may be smaller…it’s fine. Just relax and have fun with it!

Recipe Print Recipe

Makes 8-10 Hand Pies

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 40 Minutes

Overall Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients

Dough

  • 2 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 Cup Vegan Butter, cold
  • 3-6 Tbsp Water, cold

Curry Filling

  • 1 15oz Can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 Onion, finely chopped
  • 3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
  • ½ Tsp Ginger Powder
  • 1 Tbsp Curry Powder
  • ½ Tsp Garam Masala
  • ½ Tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 1 Cup Yellow Potatoes, skinned and diced
  • ¼ Cup Carrots, diced
  • ½ Cup Frozen Peas
  • 1 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
  • ¼ Cup Veggie Broth
  • Salt to taste

Directions

To Make Dough:

  1. In a large bowl, mix in your cold butter and flour together until you get a fine crumbly texture. Use either your hands or a pastry cutter.
  2. A couple Tbsp at a time, add in your cold water. Mix it in until it starts to form a dough. Transfer over to a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough together, just to bring all the fall pieces together and until it’s not a crumbling mess. Add more water if needed. Form it into a ball, saran wrap it and let it chill in the fridge.

To Make The Curry Filling:

  1. Heat some oil in a large non-stick pan, over medium heat. Add your onions and garlic to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until onions become soft and translucent.
  2. Add your ginger powder, curry powder, garam masala, and cayenne pepper to the pan. Mix it until the onions and garlic are all coated. Just cook for 30 seconds, to kind of waken up the spices.
  3. Add your chickpeas, potatoes, carrots, and frozen peas. Mix it all in until evenly combined. Cover the pan for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add in 1 Tbsp of flour and stir until evenly mixed in. Then add in your veggie broth and stir until combined.
  5. Using a fork, gently mash your chickpeas. You don’t need to mash them all, just mash them to your preference.
  6. If your mixture is still looking dry, add in a splash of veggie broth.
  7. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Assembling the pies:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
  2. On a flour surface, roll out your chilled dough into a rough rectangle using a flour rolling pin. Roll your dough out until it’s about ½ cm thick.
  3. Using either a 3” cookie cutter or a cup (I used a ceramic ramekin), cut out circles. You should be able to cut about 6-8 circles and then another 2 with the leftover dough.
  4. Gently roll your circles into rough oval shapes. They don’t all have to be exactly the same, just big enough to hold the filling in.
  5. Spoon in about 1 heaping Tbsp of your curry filling onto one side of the oval dough. Gently fold it your dough over the filling and using a fork, press down the edges to seal it. Transfer to a baking tray Repeat with the rest. If your dough isn’t sealing, you can brush a bit over water on the edges to help it stick together.
  6. Cut some slits on ontop of the hand pies and brush some soy milk over it. Bake it in the oven for 30 minutes or until it becomes golden brown.
  7. Remove from oven, let it cool for 5-10 minutes and enjoy!

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