Spiced potato cake with mint raita
This is one dish that you can happily serve to everyone – a bit different, delicious and vegetarian
- Prep:40 mins
Cook:50 mins
- Serves 6
- More effort
Nutrition per serving
- kcal 611
- fat 31g
- saturates 19g
- carbs 70g
- sugars 10g
- fibre 6g
- protein 17g
- salt 1.5g
Ingredients
- 1.3kg medium potatoes, peeled and halved
- 125g butter
- 1 tbsp cumin seed
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp nigella seeds (onion seeds)
- 2 thumb-size pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and finely shredded
- 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 heaped tsp ground turmeric
- 1 heaped tsp ground coriander
- 1 heaped tsp ground coriander
- 4-5 fresh green chilli, deseeded and sliced
- 2 x 15g packs fresh coriander
- 200g frozen peas
- juice of 1 large lime
- 200g filo pastry
- 200g pack baby spinach
- 500g Greek yogurt
- 4 tbsp coconut cream
- 2 tbsp mint sauce
Tip
Filo pastrySome brands of filo pastry can be quite heavily dusted with flour, which makes it quite dry when baked. It’s simple to avoid this – just brush it off with a soft bristle pastry brush before buttering.
Method
Put half the potatoes in a large pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Add the remaining potatoes and simmer for 12 mins until just tender (boiling the potatoes like this will mean that some will be more cooked than others). Drain, then dice.
Meanwhile, melt 85g/3oz of the butter in a large pan and fry the cumin, fennel and nigella seeds until they start to crackle. Stir in the ginger and onions, then cook for 10 mins, stirring frequently until the onions are tender.
Stir in the turmeric, ground coriander and chillies, cook for a min, then add the potatoes and cook, turning them in the from the turmeric. Take off the heat. Chop half the coriander leaves and add to the potatoes, along with a heaped tsp salt, the peas and lime juice. Stir well and set aside.
Melt the remaining butter. Line the base and sides of a greased 23cm clip-sided or loose-based cake tin with filo pastry, brushing each sheet generously with melted butter as you lay them, butter-side down, in the tin – build up several layers so that the pastry is an even thickness all over. Allow plenty of excess pastry to hang over the tin. Put the spinach in the microwave and cook according to the pack instructions. Squeeze out all the excess juice and season.
Tip half the potato filling into the tin, pack down, then cover with the spinach. Top with the remaining filling, then fold over the excess pastry to cover the filling, brush with more butter and scatter with nigella seeds. You can now chill the pie overnight if you want to get ahead.
To serve: Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Bake for 45-50 mins until golden and crispy. Meanwhile, tip the yogurt, coconut cream and remaining coriander into a food processor with the mint sauce and some seasoning, and whizz until smooth. Serve with a green salad tossed with chopped bananas coated in lime juice, finely chopped red onion and a handful of sugar-coated cashews.