I’ve been trying very hard to increase the amount of protein at lunch for my mum and I recently.

She loves pastry so I decided to make a soya mince pie for her us today. There is a lot of spice and herbs in this recipe because soya can taste so bland otherwise. If you want to omit the chili because you don’t like spicy food, I would urge that you not leave the lime out. The kick from the tangy juices is so refreshing. It surprised me and confused my mum completely.

I probably make pie like once every three months when my mum visits me because I’m very aware of the butter, refined flour and fat content of the pastry.

I prefer to use the Woolworths flaky pastry sheets, not the rolled version but that too, I imagine, would work fine. I just find that the flaky pastry sheets is easier to handle and it thaws in just 20 minutes.

You will notice that I’ve made pie stuffing for two pies. I have saved half of my mixture and frozen it for another time. Soya mince can last for months in the freezer and it’s so handy to have it on standby - just in case.

Ingredients for two pies

400g, dry soya mince

1 cup of peas

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

a 1/2 a thumb size fresh garlic, grated (roughly 1 tbsp)

6 tsp chili powder (omit if you prefer)

8 green chilies (omit if you prefer)

1/3 cup finely chopped parsley, curly

2 onions, diced

3 tsp jeera powder

5 tsp garam masala

3 tsp sumac

1 tsp cinnamon powder

juice of 1 lime

salt to taste

1 pack of flaky pastry from Woolworths/any ready made pastry

1 egg to brush over the pie before baking it.

poppy seeds to dust your pie (poppy seeds keep you fuller for longer)

Method

1. Heat oil in a medium to high pot.

2. Cover the soya mince with cold water in a deep dish. Let that soak.

3. Add fresh chilies to the oil and let it sizzle for about a minute before adding your onions.

4. Sautee onions for a good 5 minutes before adding ginger and garlic to the mix. Fry that for just 1 minute.

5. Add spices; jeera, chili, sumac, cinnamon and lime juice. Let that sizzle for 1 minute.

6. Lower the stove to medium, drain the soya mince and add it to the pot. Mix the onion and spices well into the mince and salt to taste.

7. Keep tossing every 2-3 minutes for 10 minutes. If you find the mince starting to stick to the bottom of the pot. Add a tiny amount of water and close the pot, only opening it again to stir your mince.

8. Add peas and chopped up parsley last, sprinkle the lot with garam masala and turn the stove off. The peas will cook in the heat.

To assemble your pie.

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

2. Line a square baking dish, or a pie dish with the pastry by greasing the dish first with Spray and Cook.

3. Line the bottom of the dish with pastry and fill half of the mixture in your pie crust. Don’t worry if the bottom sheet doesn’t cover the sides of the dish. The pastry will puff up in the oven and it will seal with the top layer of the pie quite organically.

4. Add the top layer of the pastry to the pie and with your index finger, push the sides together to seal the pie somewhat. It doesn’t have to look finessed at all. Stab a large hole in the middle of the pie to allow for the heat to escape.

5. Cover your pie in eggwash and sprinkle poppy seeds over the top before baking it in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes.

6. The pie is ready when the crust is golden brown in colour.

7. Enjoy warm with either a gravy, or a salad.