Healthy vegetarian Potato and Spinach Pie

Making this healthy vegetarian Potato and Spinach Pie was a breeze and to have a meatless meal for a change was quite delicious. With all the herbs and spices I added, it had a lovely Indian flavor and the bite from the chilies left your tummy warm and fulfilled.

Not only was this healthy vegetarian pie delicious, but the 2 main components of this pie are also very good for you.









Spinach is rich in antioxidants and has a very high nutritional value. It contains just about every vitamin and mineral  you can think of.....Vit A, C, E, K, Magnesium, Iron, Folate, B2, Calcium and potassium to name but a few. Spinach as more Iron per 180g serving than meat.

Steaming is the ideal way to prepare spinach as more than half of the folate is lost while cooking.



There are 3 main types of spinach



Savoy has dark green, crinkly and curly leaves. This is the most popular spinach and available readily.



Flat/smooth leaf spinach has smooth leaves that are easier to clean than savoy. This is the type  often grown for canned or frozen spinach.



Semi-savoy is a hybrid variety with slightly crinkled leaves. It similar to savoy, but it is not as difficult to clean. It is grown for fresh market and processing.



The other component of this pie is the potato. Potatoes are as good for you as spinach and strangely enough contains many of the same vitamins..... I will do a post on potatoes some time in the future, but for now there are 1 or 2 important things to remember when cooking potatoes.

-Most of the nutrition of a potato lies just under the skin and by peeling the potato we sometimes lose all of that. So where possible, just clean your potatoes and use with the skin on.

-Potatoes are often excluded from the diets of those who try to stick to a Low GI diet, because potatoes rate very high on the glycemic index......however the different varieties of potatoes as well as the cooking methods used have a huge impact on the glycemic index. Steaming, baking and boiling is fine, chips and roast potatoes is best kept for those rare occasions.....



With all that nutritional info, let's get to the kitchen and cook.......

















Healthy vegetarian Potato and Spinach Pie



Ingredients



1.3kg potatoes - steamed with their skin on

60 gr butter

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic - chopped

2 onions - chopped

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp fine coriander

2 chilies  - seeded and finely chopped

30ml chopped fresh coriander

1 tsp salt

juice and zest of a lemon

200gr spinach - washed and chopped.



1 packet (200gr) phyllo pastry

melted butter

15ml sesame seeds



Preheat oven to 180 C

Cut potatoes into cubes. Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the ginger, garlic and onion until soft, Ad the spices and stir for about 1 minute. Add the potatoes and stir to make sure the potatoes are coated with all the lovely spices. Remove from the heat and add the chili, coriander, salt and lemon zest and juice. Pour some boiling water over the spinach to welt it and squeeze all the water out. .

Now, brush the phyllo sheets with the melted butter and cut each sheet in 4( if you are making small pies or keep whole if you are making a big pie). Line small ramekins( or a big spring form pan) with about 4 layers of phyllo. Place the some of the potato mixture into the ramekins or spring form pan, topped with the spinach and finish off with the rest of the potato mixture. Fold the phyllo sheets over to cover the filling and brush with some more melted butter. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over the top and bake  for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the ramekins or spring form pan and serve with a fresh salad and some raita.



Interested in some other Healthy Vegetarian Meals..



Zucchini fritters