Masala apple pie
Sunday, January 7, 2024
A nice warming apple pie for when the weather gets colder.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon of chai masala powder. (If you live in the UK, you could do worse than Waitrose sweet garam masala in the Cooks Ingredients range)
- 2 teaspoons of sweet potato flour. (You’ll find this at East Asian grocers, or substitute with cornflour)
- 2 level tablespoons of dark muscovado sugar. (If the apples are sweet, you may want to use a bit less), and a little bit more for dusting
- 4 medium apples (cooking apples, but you can use any not-too-sweet apple you can get your hands on), peeled, cored and chopped
- 2/3 thumb of ginger, peeled and finely diced
- zest of 1 lime
- juice of half a lime
- 1 sheet of ready-made chilled vegan shortcrust pastry. (Take this out of the fridge before you want to use it)
- usalted plant butter (for greasing a pie dish)
- (optional) a couple of threads of saffron in a ristretto-sized volume of warm water
Method
- Put the chai masala powder, sweet potato flour and muscovado sugar in a large bowl and mix through. Add the chopped apples, the ginger, the lime zest and the lime juice and stir until all the apples are coated.
- Grease a deep pie dish with a knob of plant butter
- Line the pie dish with about 2/3 of the shortcrust pastry (reserving 1/3 for the lid)
- Tip in the apple and spice mixture - ideally you’ve selected a pie dish where the filling rises above the sides
- Cover the pie with the reserved shortcrust pastry. You can use the back of a teaspoon warmed in hot water to create a nice finish joining the lid to the pie lining
- If you have some left-over pastry, shape it into small leaf or flower shapes to decorate the pie lid
- You can “glaze” the pie by brushing a small amount of warm water over the surface of the pie lid - add a thread or two of saffron to the water for a little more oomph
- Dust a small amount of finely crumbled muscovado sugar over the pie lid
- Using a sharp knife, poke a couple of holes in the top of the pie around the apex
- Bake in the middle of a preheated over at 200C (180C fan) for around 45 minutes
This pie is great served warm. Remember, the filling will be hot when you take it out of the oven!