Egg, vegetable and curry (or cheese) pie

The changes in what we eat fascinates me; sometimes it is just fashion, sometimes it is new food or new technology to cook it, sometimes it is economic considerations, surfeit or shortage, good harvests or bad.

I came across another little cookery book from McDougall’s flour, one published later than the one I wrote about recently. There are many things which we would find in any cookery book now, particularly cakes and biscuits, the recipes seem very similar to ‘modern’ ones. However there are a few recipes which don’t sound as if they would make it into a current edition, or onto a present dinner table!

This recipe is for a pie which at first sight has a vegetarian filling, eggs and mixed vegetables, covered with either a curry sauce or a cheese sauce. However, unlike today when we would probably choose to fry things in oil, the onions in the curry sauce are fried in dripping. These days we have access to so many different spices, and different types of spice mixes, that any curry sauce we made would be very, very different from this one! This is a dish which could be made from left-overs, which would not cost a lot and would be easy to make for a busy cook.

The pastry, the cheese sauce and the vegetables are prepared as we would today; however, look at this curry recipe:

• ½ pint stock or vegetable liqueur
• 1 oz dripping
• ½ oz flour (self-raising or plain)
• 2-4 tsp curry powder to taste
• 1 small cooking apple, chopped
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
•  2 oz sultanas
• 1 tsp chutney
• salt and pepper
• a good squeeze of lemon juice

1. fry the onion in the dripping, until golden brown, remove and set aside
2. fry the curry powder and flour in the same pan
3. gradually stir in the liquid
4. add the onion and apple and bring to the boil
5. add sultanas, chutney, seasoning and lemon juice
6. simmer for ten minutes

To make the pie, put half the vegetables in a pie dish, put in four hard-boiled eggs, top with the rest of the vegetables and then pour on the curry sauce. When it is cool put on a pastry top and cook for 30 minutes… I’m not altogether convinced that my family would eat it!!