Healthy veggie take on Shepherd's pie

Hello hello! To start with, happy Chinese New Year to everyone that celebrated :)! On the day itself, I felt quite homesick, especially missing my family, the sharing of cakes at school and our usual feast of a dinner! However, we did make up for it in Manchester, a big group of us went for Chinese hotpot and barbeque which was so delicious and really hit the spot.

These past couple of weeks couldn't have gone any better. Exams were so much better than expected but the horrible wait for results now commences.  My two interviews went really well which means that I have made it to the assessment centres, I'm so excited for these and can't wait to give them a go! Also, Deeya, my best friend from middle school back in Mauritius came up to Manchester for the weekend and we had a blast! I took her to the famous curry mile, Old trafford Stadium and to the Victoria Warehouse to see Hardwell live, just an amazing weekend!

On one of my revision nights during exams, being slightly stressed and irritated, I turned to the kitchen to experiment and let off some steam! It was time for something savoury. Something spicy and comforting that reminded me of home but was still filling and satisfying for this chilly weather. As I had loads of canned chickpeas, mushrooms and courgette, I played around with those ingredients, but of course you can alter this recipe and be super creative as you go along. I find that the spicy filling goes extremely well with the slightly sweet and cooling sweet potato and carrot topping, adding carrot to the mash makes it lighter and less 'carbohydrate based', also giving it a bright orange colour.

SPICY SHEPHERD'S PIE

• Half an onion, finely chopped
• 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
• Half a can of tomatoes
• 1 can chickpeas
• Half a courgette, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp spicy curry powder
• A couple of mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled, cubed and boiled until soft.
• About the same about of carrot as sweet potato, peeled, chopped and boiled until soft.
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper

1. In a large frying pan, fry up the onion until translucent. Add in the cumin and fry until fragrant.
2. Pour in the canned tomato and chickpeas and cook for a couple of minutes. Stir in the courgette pieces. 
3. Dissolve the curry powder in some water and pour into the tomato based mixture. Let the mix simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes until the chickpeas soften slightly, adding more water or tomato if required. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Pour the tomato base into an oven dish. I decided to layer raw mushroom slices on top of the tomato base as I dislike overcooked mushrooms and I wanted distinct layers, however you could also add them into the base along with the courgettes.
5. Puree the carrot and sweet potato together (with a blender for a smooth finish or a fork for a chunky topping). Season with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
6. Layer the mash on top of the chickpea/ tomato base, If you want to make this fancy, you could pipe the mash for a beautiful design or go for a rustic and easy look like I did.

This will not disappoint, Enjoy!
Xx

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