Vegetarian mains
Spiced sweet potato kickshaws with spring green kedgeree and mint yoghurt
The dictionary definition of a kickshaw is a titbit, delicacy, hors d'oeuvre, trinket or trifle. In culinary terms they are little pastry parcels, stuffed with a tasty morsel and, more often than not, deep fried. Not too dissimilar to a samosa. I've forgone the fryer for an oven instead, but the essence is still there. You'll need to let the filling cool before stuffing the pastry or the heat will make it soft and unmanageable. Ideally you would make the filling the day before and chill it.
Cook's notes
Cooking the greens and the egg in the kedgeree is a neat trick, and also saves on the washing up.
Ingredients
- 1 pack puff pastry
- 1 sweet potato
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tomatoes
- plain oil, e.g. sunflower
- kickshaw spice pot containing:
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- salt and pepper
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 2 shallots
- 200g spring greens
- 150g brown basmati rice
- 2 eggs
- 30g mint
- 100ml yoghurt
Method
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Step 1
Unfurl the pastry, cut in half. Roll each half into an even-sized square, cut each square in a cross shape to make 4 smaller squares. You should have 8 squares in total. Place them back in the fridge. Put a kettle of water on to boil. Peel the sweet potato and coarsely grate 300g of it, keeping the rest for another day.
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Step 2
Peel and finely chop or crush 2 cloves of garlic. Roughly chop the tomatoes. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the frying pan. Add the garlic, chopped tomatoes and sweet potato. Fry for 5 minutes. Add the kickshaw spice pot and 3 tablespoon of water. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 more minutes until half cooked and firm in texture.
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Step 3
While the sweet potato cooks, preheat your oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Peel and finely slice the shallots. Wash the spring greens, strip the leaves away from the stalks and finely shred the leaves. Measure out 400ml boiling water from the kettle, crumble in the stock cube and add the curry powder. Mix until everything has dissolved.
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Step 4
When the sweet potato is ready, allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water. Mix the
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Step 5
shallots, rice, spring greens and stock in the saucepan or casserole. Add a couple of turns of black pepper. Keep to one side while you make the kickshaws. Crack one of the eggs and beat it together well with a fork.
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Step 6
Place a generous tablespoon of sweet potato mix in the middle of each square, brush the inside edges with a little beaten egg. Fold the pastry over into a triangle and seal the edges together. Place them all on a baking tray and brush with beaten egg. Place the remaining un-cracked egg into the pan of rice.
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Step 7
Pop on the lid and place it onto the bottom shelf of the oven. Slide the kickshaws onto the top shelf. Cook both for 20-25 minutes. The kickshaws should be golden brown and the rice cooked and fluffy. While you wait, wash the mint, shake it dry and roughly chop the leaves. Mix half into the yoghurt.
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Step 8
When everything is ready, remove the egg from the pan of kedgeree, it should be cooked through. Cool it under cold water, tap it gently all over and peel away the shell. Chop or grate it roughly and stir it into the rice with the remaining chopped mint. Serve a pile of kedgeree with the crispy kickshaws and the minted yoghurt as a dip.