Vegetable Pot Pie

After seeing pot pie being mentioned in many Tv serials, I would always wonder about what pot pie exactly is. The Ingalls family in the Hallmark channel serial, Little House On the Prairie would eat pot pie for diner. Then, the other day I watched Ina Garten make pot pie on one of her shows on the the Food channel. She made chicken pot pie. As my husband does not eat chicken, I usually make only vegetarian dishes at home. So I tried to make vegetable pot pie with a variety of vegetables and it turned out to be very tasty. It has been raining here today and the pot pie made a perfect dinner on a cold rainy day. I guess this is a very healthy and sizzling winter dish and I have decided to make this very often. I also carved my own Jack o lantern for Halloween and thought of displaying it with the pot pie. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour or maida
4 cups of chopped vegetables(choose from or mix and match from pumpkin, corn kernels, peas, potato, sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, beans, mushrooms, zucchini)
1 green pepper
1 medium onion
pepper for taste
2 tablespoon heavy cream (optional)
3 tablespoon oil
salt for taste
1 cup milk

For the pastry:

2 cups whole wheat flour or roti atta
ice cold water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg

Method
To make the pastry, mix the wheat flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Then put the flour mixture into a food processor and add the butter. Give a pulse or two, so that the butter blends with the flour. Add cold water and blend it in the food processor till it forms a soft dough. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for around 30 minutes. This will prevent the flour from getting sticky while rolling it.

For the stuffing:
Chop the onion. Fry onion in 1 teaspoon oil till transparent. Chop the green pepper and fry it with the onion till soft. Add all the vegetables and cook covered till soft. In another pan, add the rest of the oil and flour. Fry the flour till it is light brown in color. Let it cool down. After it cools down, add milk to the flour and mix it well so that there are no lumps. Add salt and pepper Cool down the vegetables and mix it with the white flour sauce. Check for salt and pepper and season it accordingly as per taste.

Assembly
Beat the egg in a small container.
Fill the bowls or the baking tray with the vegetable filling. Sprinkle some flour on the rolling board and roll the flour into the shape of the bowl or the baking tray. Brush the top outer edges of the bowl or the baking tray with the egg wash so that the flour sticks easily to the edges. Now gently put the flour cover on top of the bowl or the baking tray and seal the edges. Make a slit on top of the flour covering to let out the steam while baking.
Brush the remaining egg wash on the flour covering. Sprinkle pepper over the flour covering if you want a very spicy pot pie. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the pot pie for 40 minutes or till the top is browned. Serve hot.


Variation:

-You can add garam masala to the vegetables.
-Coriander leaves or cilantro can be added to the vegetables.
-If you want it tangy, you can add tomato ketchup to the cooked vegetables.
- Cooked soy chunks can also be added with the vegetables.
- Shredded and cooked chicken can be added along with the vegetables.