Australia: vegan meat pies

The first humans arrived in Australia some 50-65,000 years ago and lived largely as hunter-gatherers until the late 18th century when British colonists started arriving (after losing their American colonies). Today, this original Aboriginal Australian population has dwindled, mostly due to disease and conflict brought by the British, and the country is mainly inhabited by descendants of these British settlers and later immigration waves, primarily from the British Isles.

In the Australian cuisine, many dishes reminiscent of the cuisine’s British heritage can be found, with a smattering of twists and additions based on local climate and ingredients. Dishes like fish and chips, pea and ham soup, and different biscuits are enjoyed along with variations on popular dishes like hamburgers served with beetroot ​[1]–[3]​. Sadly, many of the interesting animals that have Australia as their unique home, such as kangaroo, emu, and crocodile, are also found on the menu. The only domesticated plant endemic to Australia is the macadamia nut tree.

Local specialties include pavlova, (a meringue-based dessert, origin contested by New Zeeland), fairy bread (white bread with butter and hundreds-and-thousands, aka sprinkles), and damper (a campfire bread from the early British settlers) ​[1]–[3]​.

Bush tucker is a special part of Australian cuisine and refers to food items that can be found in the outback and is/was traditionally eaten by the aboriginal population ​[4]​. These foods include plants, fruits/berries, seeds, insects, and other animals like kangaroo, lizards, and emu ​[5]​. The Mbanatua museum in Alice Springs, NT, has a nice write up of these local delicacies.

Meat pies

Meat pies are an Australian institution, eaten as a snack or street food similar to hotdogs in the US ​[3]​. Chopped or minced meat in a pastry shell as slathered in tomato sauce and enjoyed at a cricket game. When not eaten at a ballgame, the dish is sometimes served with green peas, mashed potatoes, and gravy instead of tomato sauce.

What the actual difference between tomato sauce and ketchup is, seems to be a hard question to answer ​[6]​. Both seem to be concentrated tomatoes with sugar and spices (spices of course vary between recipes). It appears that ketchup might be slightly more viscous and the spices differ.

The traditional meat pies, surprisingly, have meat as one of its main constituents, typically beef ​[3], [7]–[12]​ while some vegetarian versions use mushrooms and leeks instead ​[13], [14]​. For this filling, I wanted to create a rich, savory filling so I turned to several umami sources and used mushrooms, marmite, and (vegan) Worchestershire sauce to flavor green lentils.

For the crust, I decided to try normal pie crust as the base and a puff pastry lid, a combination I found while researching this dish ​[10], [13], [15]​, though most recipes only used puff pastry ​[7], [9], [11], [12], [14]​.

Interesting ingredients

Vegemite

Vegemite is a gooey yeast extract and is a very classical Australian condiment. In fact, Vegemite on toast is listed as a national dish ​[16]​. It is brown and sticky, with a salty flavor chockfull of umami. In vegan recipes it is often used to add savoriness to different dishes, especially filling stews for fall and winter. A closely related product is marmite which, to my understanding, is a slightly sweeter relative to Vegemite. If you can’t find Vegemite or Marmite, you can often substitute for a bit of soy sauce, miso paste, vegan Worchestershire sauce, or similar (but not on toast!).

Conclusion

These pies are amazing. The lentil and mushroom filling was full of rich flavors and brought the mind to rich red wine fall stews enjoyed in cold weather. At first, I was a bit skeptical to serving the pies with Ketchup (in lieu of proper Aussie tomato sauce) but it was a very nice pairing. Next time, I will try making the pies with just puff pastry and no pie crust, just to try the difference.

If you think the pies seem like too much work, you should anyway try the filling and eat it with potatoes or pasta. You won’t be disappointed.

Print

Meat pies [vegan]

This vegan versoin of Australian meat pies have a delicious filling of mushrooms and green lentils. Serve with Australian tomato sauce (or, failing that, use ketchup).

Course Main Course

Cuisine Australia

Keyword Mushrooms, Pie

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4 pies, 13 cm

Author Henrik Persson | veganphysicist.com

Equipment

• 4 13 cm pie pans.

Ingredients

Pie crust

• 100 g vegan butter or margarine
• 150 mL whole wheat flour
• 150 mL all purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tbsp water
• 200 g vegan puff pastry, thawed See note

Filling

• 3 dL green or brown lentils
• 6-8 dL vegetable stock for cooking lentils
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 200 g mushrooms ~8
• 1 tsp vegan worchestershire sauce see note
• 1 tsp vegimate or marmite
• 2 tbsp tomato puré
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• black pepper
• 1 tbsp corn starch

Instructions

Pie crust

• Mix margarine/butter with flour and salt. Work the dough until it comes together. Add enough cold water to make a smooth dough. Work fast and place in fridge to rest.

  Let rest for 30+ min

Filling

• Boil the lentils in vegetable stock until just done. Strain and preserve the stock.
• Add the mushrooms and a tbsp olive oil to a dry pot on medium heat. Cook until the mushrooms have lost a lot of liquid and are starting to brown. Set aside.
• In the same sweat the onion ina a tbsp olive oil until translucent and starting to brown. Add garlic, thyme, mushrooms, black pepper and bayleaf.
• Stir until fragrant.
• Add lentils, Worchestershire sauce, tomato pure and vegemite.

  Whisk 1 tbsp flour into 1 dL of the reserved lentil cooking liquid. Stir into pot.
• Let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Let cool. Letting the filling cool ensures the puff pastry won't melt during asembly (and you won't burn your hands).

Make the pies

• When the pie dough has rested, roll it out and cut pieces that fit your pie mold(s).

  Bake for ~20 min at 180°C.
• Roll out the puff pastry and cut into shapes that fit the top of your pie mold(s) as a lid (flat circle usually).
• Add the cooled filling to the crust

  Cover with the puff pastry. Pinch down.

  Optional: brush with plant based milk, vegan margarin or aqua faba (the liquid from chickpea cans).

  Use a fork to cerate a few steam holes.
• Bake at 220°C for ~20 min, until golden.

Notes

Puff pastry: Many storebought frozen brands of puff pastry are accidentally vegan.  Palm oil, vegetable shortening and hydrogentad plant based oils take the place of animal products as cheaper alternatives with longer shelf life. It’s not healthy, but it is vegan.

Worhcestershire sauce: Note that normally, Worchestershire sauce contains anchovis. If you can’t find a vegan brand, replace with soy sauce, miso, vegemite, or omit.