Vegan Meat Pie Floater, Australian style vegan meat pies with a rich mince based filling. Served in a bowl of thick pea soup. Delicious comfort food.
Serving Vegan Meat Pie Floater
Meat Pies are popular throughout Australia, shortcrust pastry filled with a thick beef mince gravy. Always served with a dollop of tomato sauce. Meat Pie Floater is a variation and is particularly popular in Adelaide. The pie is served in a bowl of thick pea soup.
This vegan version can be adapted to your liking. There are many good quality vegan minces’ on the market and many of them would work well in the pie. You have to watch out for seasoning when using vegan mince, many of the brand’s pack in high levels of salt so take care when seasoning the filling.
The thickness of the pea soup can also be adapted to your preference. This recipe makes a rather thick pea soup similar to mushy peas. If you want a thinner soup, add more vegetable stock.
Vegan Meat Pie Floater
Ingredients
Vegan Meat Pie
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 300 g vegan mince
- 1 medium onion
- 2 clove garlic minced
- 100 g shiitake mushrooms minced
- ½ tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoons BBQ sauce
- 300 ml vegan beef stock
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornflour cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Puff pastry
- Shortcrust pastry
- Plant-based milk for wash
- 4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
Pea soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- 600 g frozen peas
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- 300 ml vegetable stock
Instructions
Pie Filling
- Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once hot add the vegan mince and cook until lightly browned. Different brands of vegan mince will take different times to cook. Follow package instructions.
- Once the mince is lightly browned add the onion, minced garlic and the shiitake mushrooms. Cook with the mince until the onion is soft and translucent, around 6 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and stir to coat. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the vegan Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, BBQ sauce and vegan beef stock. Mix to incorporate everything and bring to a boil.
- Taste and adjust for seasoning. The vegan mince can be quite salty and so can the vegan beef stock so you might not need to add any more salt.
- Add the cornflour to a small bowl and mix with 4 tablespoons of water to create a slurry. Add to the pan then mix well. Continue to cook until the sauce has thickened slightly.
- Turn the heat off and transfer the filling to a bowl to cool completely before making the pies. You can make the filling the day before and cool in the fridge overnight.
Pie Assembly
- Once the filling has cooled completely. Preheat an oven to 180°C (350°F)
- Roll out the shortcrust pastry to a thickness of 3mm then line the bottom and sides of each pie tin. Trim off any excess pastry around the edges of the tin. Dock the bottom of the pastry by piercing with a fork several times.
- Fill each pie tin with some of the vegan mince filling. The filling should reach up to the same level as the rim of the pie tin.
- Roll out the puff pastry to a thickness of 3mm then cut to fit the top of the pie tins. Place the puff pastry over the top and crimp around the edges with your fingers or using a fork. Make a small hole in the centre of the pie to allow steam to escape.
- Use a pastry brush to give the pastry a wash using plant-based milk.
- Place the pies in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and cooked through.
Pea Soup
- While the pies are cooking make the pea soup.
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once hot add the onion with a pinch of salt and sauté until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute.
- Add the smoked paprika, thyme, peas, lemon juice and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and simmer gently until the peas are fully cooked. This will take around 8 minutes.
- Using a stick blender or a potato masher roughly blend the soup until most of the peas are roughly mashed.
- Taste and adjust for seasoning.
- When the pies are cooked serve them in a bowl of pea soup with a dollop of tomato ketchup on top.
