I’d like to begin this week with a quick apology. Last week’s recipe for the fig and frangipane crostata was incomplete due to a small printing error, resulting in a few ingredients going missing.

For those of you who’d like to try the recipe, it’s can be found by clicking here on the Examiner website - and you’ll find the complete recipe and method there. I do sincerely apologise, and hope no figs were harmed in the non-making of this recipe!

Now, to this week’s dish, and it’s one that’s not only nicely timed for this little cold snap, but one that came to me absolutely out of nowhere. Usually, I read about a dish that leads me to formulating my own version, or I chance upon an online conversation that leads me somewhere.

Sometimes it’s a long-held memory that’s reignited, and many times it’s just because I have a lot of ingredients lying around that need using up!

But this week’s recipe simply appeared in my mind one day, and I thought it was too good not to have a crack at. It may have been done before (I’ve deliberately not checked, so as to avoid the inevitable disappointment) or it may be completely original, which I very much doubt, but it’s a great little dish nonetheless.

It’s a shepherd’s pie with a twist, so I named it Gadariya’s Pie, from the Hindi word for shepherd. I’d imagined a lovely, deep, rich Rogan Josh-style lamb and vegetable base, covered with a lighter-spiced mash topping, and it all worked most satisfactorily. I wanted the mash to be a bit richer than just potato, so I added a little carrot and some cubes of sweet, tasty butternut squash to my mix, which not only boosted the flavour, but added a very pleasant golden yellow colour to the finished pie.

For the base, I used the classic vegetable starter kit that forms the backbone of so many dishes; gently-sweated onion, garlic, celery and carrot. To this I added my spices, allowing the oils to be released, coating everything with wonderful aromatics.

I also added an essential ingredient to the curry powder, chopped fresh curry leaves.

I’d not really encountered curry leaf much before working at the café and meeting Chami, a terrific Sri Lankan chef. His cooking is based around these incredibly savoury, spicy little leaves, very much like small bayleaves to look at, and they add an immense ‘woomph’ of dense, exotic spice to any subcontinental dish.

Avoid dried curry leaves, as they can be a bit tasteless. Many supermarkets and Indian superstores now have bags of fresh leaves, which you can use immediately or freeze. They cook from frozen perfectly well, and are an essential part of the DNA of this dish.

Next, as one would for a regular shepherd’s pie, I browned my lamb mince for added flavour, then mixed the two together along with some tomato for colour and depth, along with some lamb stock, for further richness.

 The mash was made, and mixed with a little butter in which I’d gently warmed some lighter spices, then the pie came together.

 To cut the richness, I decided to make a side dish of quickly-sautéed spinach with some cubes of golden-fried paneer cheese and shards of deep-fried chili and garlic. It all tasted terrific, and makes a lovely change from the regular shepherd’s pie we are used to cooking.

Have a go, please, and remember you can play about with the spices, use beef or even quorn mince instead, and really have fun with the incidentals. Just stick to the basic quantities and remember that those curry leaves are most important!

Ingredients

For the curry powder:

8 tsp each coriander seeds, garam masala

4 tsp each turmeric, green cardamom, cumin seeds, fenugreek, garlic powder

2 tsp each dried red chilis, asafoetida, ground allspice, black peppercorns

2 cinnamon sticks

12 cloves

40 fresh curry leaves

2 fresh bayleaves

For the meat:

3 tbsp sunflower oil

2 onions, finely chopped

3 carrots, finely diced

3 celery sticks, finely diced

6 garlic cloves, minced

A few fresh curry leaves

1.5 kg minced lamb

2 tbsp tomato purée

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons curry powder (use recipe above or any good mix)

900ml lamb stock

For the topping:

1kg potatoes, peeled and diced

600g butternut squash, peeled and diced

400g carrot or parsnip, peeled and diced

100g butter

2 teaspoons curry powder

For the spinach:

500g spinach, washed

1 packet (225g – approx) paneer cheese, diced

2 large green chilis, very finely sliced

4 cloves garlic, very finely sliced

A little sunflower oil

A few tablespoons ghee or clarified butter

Method:

Firstly, make the curry powder by slowly toasting the spices in a dry frying pan, and then whizzing them in a blender or grinder. You can always use a good shop-bought spice mix should you prefer. In a deep pan, sweat the vegetables in a little sunflower oil until they are soft and beginning to colour.

Add curry powder to taste, and allow it to cook out over gentle heat. Chop and add the curry leaves.

In a separate pan, fry the mince in batches until deeply-coloured, and add to the vegetables. Finally, stir in the tomatoes, tomato purée and enough lamb stock to cover. Simmer gently for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally, and adding stock if necessary, then allow to cool, before tipping into a suitable casserole dish.

As the meat is cooking, cook the potatoes, carrots and squash separately, and pass through a mouli into a large pan.

Gently warm a little curry spice in the butter, and when it smells aromatic, tip into the mash and mix well. Spoon over the meat, and smooth the surface.

Heat the oven to 180ºC / Gas 4. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes, or until bubbling and crunchy on top.

As the pie is cooking, quickly deep-fry the chilis and garlic in a little sunflower oil until golden and crisp, then drain on kitchen paper. Fry the paneer cheese in a little clarified butter on all sides until golden, then quickly wilt the spinach on top.

Serve in a warm bowl, topped with the crispy shards of chili and garlic, along with a few scoops of the hot pie.