Steak pie is such a classic, and may seem tough to replicate.
Here I have adapted an Adam Ragusea recipe to replace the beef with tofu, and ramp up the strong umami flavours. Potato instead of pastry really makes this a satisfying one-pot winter warmer!
Ingredients:
Firm tofu, cut into bite size chunks2 large (baker) potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic
60g cashews, soaked overnight (or brought to boil and left cool for 1hr)
50g rolled oats, soaked for 30-60 minutes
3 tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
3 Green onions or 2 shallots or 1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp of corn starch
Meat free OXO cube
Tomato purée
Good red wine
1 tbsp Soy sauce
Drain and rinse well both the cashews and oats and added to a liquidiser with a dash of lemon juice, half teaspoon of salt, two tablespoons of oil and three tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Then 200ml of water and blend it until smooth. Put a sieve over a bowl and strain the liquid through. Stir it until all you are left with in the sieve is a load of gloop from the oats.
Dust tofu chunks in corn starch and fry in oil in a hot pan until golden. The high heat browns quickly without drying the centre. Reserve the browned tofu in a well oiled pie dish.
Return the pan to the heat, add a little extra oil, and add the thinly sliced carrot, then the chopped pepper and onion / shallot. Stir fry for a couple of minutes, then add the mushrooms. The mushrooms will release water, after most of this has evaporated off, add some tomato purée to the pan and allow to cook for a minute or so to caramelise, before deglazing the pan with a glass of red wine.
Make a corn starch slurry with some cold water, and add to the pan to thicken the sauce. Add some more wine (or water) to thin it. Sprinkle on the meat free OXO cube and add a tablespoon of soy sauce to up the umami. Some mushroom powder could also be added now.
Taste for seasoning, especially pepper. If needed, some sugar / agave / molasses can take the edge off any bitterness. Reduce the sauce to make it quite thick.
Combine the sauce and the tofu in the pie dish. Add one layer of potato and then pour over just under half the oat cream. Add a second layer of potato and pour over the last of the oat cream.
Cover with a lid or some foil and bake in a 180C oven for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for 15 minutes more. The dish is done when the potatoes are done!
Rest for 10 minutes, then serve. Some fresh greens would work well with it.