Root Vegetable Cornish Pasty

For fall and winter, we have our vegan spin on the Classic Cornish Pasty. The flakiest and buttery vegan pastry encases chunky root vegetables and a savoury thyme gravy. We have air-fried these plant-based cornish pasties (or hand pies) to achieve perfectly cooked golden pastry with a tender filling of pumpkin, sweet potato, mushroom, and root vegetables.

VEGAN PUMPKIN AND ROOT VEGETABLE HAND PIES

This autumn and winter vegan lunch recipe proves that eating vegan does not mean missing out on taste and texture!

One of my favourite fall recipes is our Harry Potter Pumpkin Pasties that are vegan. I'm a true Potterhead and eating these makes me feel like I'm on the Hogwarts express charging along to Hogwarts for a new school year!

A fond cornish pasty memory of mine is from when I used to indulge in a piping-hot vegan "vegetables in a wheatmeal pastry" pasty from the train station on the way to placements as a medical student.

The stall was from a company that handmade their pasties in West Cornwall using traditional techniques.

Whilst you can argue this isn't the "proper" cornish pasty experience, as I was munching these along the South Coast rather than Cornwall, this was as close as I could get!

The pasties were phenomenal. They had the most wonderful and rich filling - not dry at all but instead, the vegetables were enveloped in a thick and silky sauce.

I was kept fueled and nourished during long and tiring days, so it's no surprise that they were originally invented to sustain Cornish tin miners 100 years ago!

TRADITIONAL CORNISH PASTIES

Whilst we all have our own interpretation and recipe of a Cornish pasty, the higher powers, aka "The Cornish Pastry Association" (not Tom Cruise) have given us a set of rules!

A whole genuine Cornish pasty consists of at least

12.5% meat - beef only!

25% vegetables - potato, turnip (swede), onion & seasoning (salt and pepper)

all ingredients must be uncooked when the pasty is assembled

the pastry must be savoury and can be shortcrust, rough puff or puff

the pastry has to be able to withstand baking and handling without breaking and can be glazed with egg or milk

the edges are crimped to one side to create the characteristic Cornish pasty finish

Pasties are definitely not dainty, cute English food but robust large pockets of steaming thickly cut vegetables that are hearty and super warming.

Our vegan hand pies take inspiration from the classic Cornish to make a pure vegetarian filling and vegan pastry.

WHY AIR FRY HAND PIES?

Make the most of your air fryer to make seriously amazing hand pies!

Using the air fryer is quicker than a conventional oven. It also prevents the risk of a soggy bottom as the circulating air ensures the crust is crispy all around.

The semi-cooked vegetable filling softens down to perfection and the pastry develops a beautiful coveted golden-brown finish.

THE BEST VEGAN CORNISH PASTY FILLING

I love my pasties to be heaving with plenty of piping-hot filling. The pasty is packed with pumpkin, sweet potato, parsnip, mushroom and onion

All ingredients are easily available in grocery stores from the autumn or fall

We have not used any meat alternatives but decided to celebrate the beauty of delicious vegetables instead.

Mushrooms lend a "meaty" texture and a great flavour.

We have made a gravy using thyme, veggie stock and nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast gives a nutty "cheesy" flavour that is so savoury and delicious

These hand pies are:

✅totally plant-based

✅vegan filling lunch idea

✅handheld portable lunch idea

✅buttery and flakey rough puff pastry

✅filled with chunky autumn vegetables

✅have a silky gravy flavoured with thyme and nutritional yeast

✅have a tantalising umami flavour

HOW TO MAKE PERFECT FLAKY VEGAN PASTRY USING TREK AND FLORA

Traditional pastry is made with lard and butter. We wanted to make a vegan recipe where you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them.

We have made vegan pasties in the past using wholemeal flour and oil but this time we wanted to make a vegan rough puff

The fat

To shorten the pastry, we have used plant-based substitute Trex which is a vegan shortener and can easily be found in the chilled section next to butter.

We have used non-dairy Flora plant butter as a substitute for traditional butter.

If you wanted to make a vegetarian pastry, you can use normal butter instead of lard.

The flour

To make the perfect pastry, we have used Canadian strong white bread flour. This flour is famed for its superior quality. The end result leads to fuller flavour and a nutty crust.

We have used Marriage's brand but you can buy own-brand Canadian wheat flour in some grocery stores too.

If you can't find this specific flour, then use any strong white bread flour.

To glaze

To glaze the pasties, we used a little hemp milk but you can use other non-dairy milk such as oat milk

GLUTEN-FREE CORNISH PASTY

HOW TO MAKE AIR FRYER VEGAN HAND PIES:

FREEZING AND STORING PERFECT HAND PIES:

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VEGAN CORNISH PASTY RECIPE - AIR FRYER VEGETABLE HAND PIES

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A delicious vegan cornish pasty or vegetable hand pies with a buttery, flaky rough puff pastry filled with hearty winter root vegetables and air fried. GURT LUSH!!

Course snack, picnic, lunch, dinner

Cuisine Cornish, British, English, American

Prep Time 3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Servings 6

Author Hayley Dhanecha

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Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

• 3 cups + 2 tablesppon strong white bread flour*
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 block vegetable sortening** 250 grams
• ¼ cup vegan butter
• 150-175 ml chilled water
• 250 grams butternut squash
• 200 g swede
• 100 g sweet potatoes
• 100 g parsnips
• 100 g mushrooms
• 1 big white onion
• 200 ml hot water
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 2-3 tablespoon nutritional yeast 20-25grams
• 2-3 tablespoon dairy free milk

Instructions

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• Sift canadian strong white flour in a bowl, add salt. Add chunks of chilled vegan shortner and butter. 
• Rub loosley using your fingers. We need to see bits of butter in there, so don't rub into the flour completely.
• Add chilled water little by little and mix. Make firm rough dough.
• Wrap it up using cling film and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Once the pastry has chilled, place the dough onto lightly floured surface. Roll it out in to a rectangular shape, roughly 20x50cm. 
• Do not over handle the dough, we want see marble effect of the vegrtarian shortening running through it.
• Now fold down the third down to the centre, then the bottom third over that. (please see video). 
• Turn the dough a quarter turn to the left or right and roll it out again 3 times its length and fold it again just like you did the first time.
• Cover with cling film and chill once again for 1-2 hours in the fridge.
• Whilst the pastry dough is resting in the fridge, make root vegetable filling.
• Peel and cut all the vegetables you are going to use.
• Prepare a thyme gravy by adding a vegetable stock cube, thyme, oregano, garlic powder and ground black pepper to hot water and stir
• Heat very little oil in a pan, add all of the cubed vegetables. Add the thyme gravy and cook until the vegetables are around 50% cooked. They will cook the rest of the way in the air fryer
• Add a cornstarch slurry and nutrional yeast. Mix and set aside to cool completely. 
• Roll out the pastry until it is ½ cm thick. Using a 6inch plate, cut out a circle
• Spoon some filling onto one half of the pastry leaving some gap at the edges. Add a small cube of vegan butter in the centre
• Brush some cold water around the edges and then fold over and crimp
• Cut a small hole into the pastry with a knife to allow air to escape
• Brush with non dairy milk
• We used our Instant Pot Pro Crisp to airfry these hand pies.
• Set up the Pro Crisp with the air fryer basket and tray.
• Place the pasty in the Instant Pot and use the Air Fryer lid.
• We air-fried for 25 minutes on 200C and that worked well for us.
• Preheat oven to 190C/374F or gasmark 5. 
• Once pies are filled and crimped put them on baking sheets and put hem straight in to your oven.
• Bake them around 40-50 minutes or until nice and golden all over including the base. 

Video

Notes

These vegan pasties or vegetable hand pies are completely vegan, egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free and refined sugar free.

*Strong white bread flour also known as strong plian flour. We have used with a high protein percentage such as Canadian bread flour from any major supermarkets. We have used Marriages's brand flour.

**Vegetable fat/shortening is not same as any other margarine, so these two not be substituted. It is widely available and can be found in major British supermarkets in the chilled section near butter. Here in the UK we use TREX brand which is vegan. In the USA Crisco brand is quite popular.

The pastry needs lots of chilling time, do not tempt to skip these steps.

Nutrition

Serving: 1pasty | Calories: 138kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 970mg | Potassium: 487mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 7180IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 1mg

PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.

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