Curry roasted broccoli and chickpea pie

The closer we get to the weekend, the more inventive I become with my cooking. This is for two reasons: food supplies become depleted and whatever is left needs using up. We always seem to end up with a lonely and rather sad looking broccoli at the end of the week. For this recipe, I felt the humble chickpeas would make wonderful companions for the broccoli and all together they can be spiced up with curry, lime, garlic and chilli. This pie is very simple but packed full of flavour.

Curry roasted broccoli and chickpea pie, serves 2-3

1 400g can of chickpeas, drained

1 large broccoli, washed and separated into small florets

2 tbsp medium curry powder

good pinch of salt, pepper and chilli flakes

1 lime, halved

1 onion, peeled and cut into half rounds, separated into individual pieces

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

Good glug of olive oil

½ soy milk

¼ cup pine nuts

Pie crust:

1 ¼ cups of strong whole wheat flour

pinch of salt

⅓ sunflower spread

⅓ cup cold water

Preheat an oven to 170°C. Put the broccoli, onion pieces and whole cloves of garlic into a roasting tin. Sprinkle over 1 tbsp of curry powder, pinch of salt and pepper, juice of half of the lime and a good glug of olive oil. Mix well and put in the oven to roast for 10-15 minutes. Turn occasionally to make sure the onion and broccoli brown evenly. In the meantime make the pie crust. 

Put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and add the sunflower spread. Mix together using your fingers until breadcrumb like.  Add the water and knead into smooth dough. Roll out on a floured surface until slightly larger than the baking pan, turning a few times during the process. Gently transfer to a greased 20cm non-stick baking pan. Set aside and return to the pie filling.

Remove the broccoli from the oven and add the chickpeas, juice of the other half of lime, a pinch of chilli flakes, 1 tbsp of curry powder and another glug of olive oil. Mix well and return to the oven for another 3-5 minutes. Remove and add the soy milk and pine nuts, and stir well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie case and put in the oven on 190°C for 35 minutes. Cover the top with aluminum foil to prevent browning. 5 minutes before the end remove the foil to allow the top to brown a little. Serve with a simple salad.