As I keep mentioning Sarah Brown’s Red Dragon Pie in my meal plans, I thought I had better publish the recipe. The book it comes from is Vegetarian Kitchen
I do wish they would do a reprint of this one. It is packed full of great, easy to make and unfussy recipes. I think it is more relevant than ever with the current popularity of vegetarianism and veganism. If you are lucky, you might find it second hand on Amazon.
Red Dragon Pie is the veggie replacement for shepherd’s pie. Just as tasty and delicious with vegetables and vegetarian gravy. I tend to use cans of aduki beans for this as it is much quicker to make. However, if you use dried you will need to soak them over night or in boiling water for 1 hour. Rinse them, bring to the boil and cook for 50 minutes. Drain and reserve the stock.
Red Dragon Pie
Serves 4
Ingredients
110g aduki beans, steeped in boiling water for an hour then cooked until soft. (Or a 400g can aduki beans, drained)
50g cooked rice
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
25g carrots, diced
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp mixed herbs
Half a pint of stock or the reserved liquid from the cooked aduki beans
salt and pepper
450g potatoes, peeled and chopped
25g butter
Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the cooked beans and rice. Mix the soy sauce, tomato puree and herbs with the stock, then pour over the beans and vegetables. Season to taste, adding a little more liquid if necessary. Transfer to a greased 1.5 litre casserole dish.
Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until cooked and mash with the butter. Season well and top your bean mixture. Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes until the top has browned.
For more frugal recipes we enjoy, see my Frugal Recipes page. No red dragons were injured in the making of this dish.
I am thrilled to tell you that I have eaten Red Dragon Pie in the originally restaurant in Scarborough cooked by the lady herself. This was back in the 80s when veggie food was rather scarce. We loved going to the original Sarah Browns but eventually I think her writing and TV work took over and she sold out ? Often make similar pie but now I use sweet potato instead. That was a blast fom our holiday past today.
Wow, really? Didn’t know she ran a restaurant
I used to love this dish. It was a family favourite made by both my Mother and Aunt – although I’m sure my Mother used Red Kidney Beans rather than Aduki Beans. I’m not a Vegetarian (and never have been), but it’s still a great dish for anyone. I’ve seen it recently touted as a Vegan dish as if it’s a completely new recipe!
I was recently discussing the meals my Sister and I had as children and found I had a copy of the “Vegetarian Kitchen” buried at the back of the cupboard. Happy Days!
Such a great cook book!
I agree with you. I have all of her cookbooks and would never give them away, even though I don’t cook from them that often. I love to leaf through from time to time. Some of her later books got a bit too “wholefoods” for my liking but on the whole I love them.
Jamie Oliver featured a similar sounding Cottage Pie on his Meat-free Meals programme (Ch. 4, Mon 2 Sept 2019) which sounded delicious too.
Thanks so much for publishing this recipe. Certainly going to give this a try. Who’d have thought rice and potatoes would work so well,…… besides takeaway and chips that is 🙂
There was way too much stock and the serving was quite small – are the quantities correct?
Sorry – should have made it clear that 110g of beans was if you use them dried. I tend to use one 400g can of beans to save time. Edited to clarify.
Another tasty recipe enjoyed by meat eaters. The only problem was that it only served three adults, since husband and grandson both had second helpings. Many thanks.