This Red Dragon Pie recipe originated in Sarah Brown’s Vegetarian Kitchen (BBC cookery series). Topped with mash, the base is a rich mix of aduki beans – said to give you the strength of the dragon, this is where the dish gets its name – and brown rice in gravy.
Here’s how we do it:
Soak beans overnight if using dried ones. For the mammoth pie above which did dinner and lunch next day for four, we used 250g of dried beans. Place in a large pan, cover well with water, bring to the boil and let simmer for a long time… (should be instructions on the bag). Throw in the rice (200g) about half way through cooking. Add more water if needed. Once it’s all nearly cooked add the vegetables. In this pie there were four carrots and one head of celery, all chopped. Onion is good too.
As that cooks up a bit, add a teaspoon of mixed herbs, a good squidge of tomato puree and a teaspoon of yeast extract. Taste and add salt if needed. Stir well. Top with mashed potatoes – especially easy if using cookware that does hob and oven like our favourite Le Creuset Cast Iron Round Casserole – and bake in a hot oven until nicely browned.
Enjoy your Red Dragon Pie!
THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR (a historical novel by Lucy, written under her pen name), has six whole chapters of medieval Christmas, romance, witches, and a Scottish castle and stone circle…
LOVE this recipe. We sometimes mix the beans with bulghar wheat instead of rice. Baby loves it too
wow that was a fast comment, am still tweaking! it is a great recipe though…
🙂 oh, you know, i just hover round the computer! (good timing i think!)
yum! Nice n wholesome 🙂
I luv reading your blogs from the opposite end of the world. Today I went to the Australian Tennis Open (Melbourne,Australia), temperature 32degrees celcius. Hot but not too hot!!
However I remember the cold in Aberdeenshire; an Aussie in Peterhead and Crimond. Soup is a wonderful thing!!!
I did think as I was writing that newsletter that it’s only winter in the Northern hemisphere! Sounds wonderfully warm 🙂
Had the book sometime in the 1980s … don’t know what happened to it .. maybe lost in a house move .. anyway have been trying to find this recipe again for AGES! It was one of our (me and ex-husband) fav dishes in the 1980s …. when veganism was far less easy than today.
Glad you found it, hope it’s as good as you remember 🙂
I am looking for a leek and parsley britches recipe of Sarah’s? Anyone have it? I think it had butter beans and possibly vinegar and is gorgeous!!
Dorothy in Edinburgh
@Dorothy in Edinburgh
From Sarah Brown’s Vegetarian Kitchen:
Leek Brotchan with Lemon and Parsley
150g butterbeans
1100ml water for soaking, 1100ml waster for boiling (or open a can!)
3 leeks
50g butter
1000ml light stock
40g fresh chopped parsley
juice of half a lemon
1Tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper
Garnish: 4Tbsp natural yogurt or single cream
Soak and boil the beans to get rid of toxins (if you’re old school). Wash and slice the leeks, melt butter in saucepan and cook the leeks gently, 5 minutes. Add beans, cook 5 mins. Add the stock and simmer 20 mins, covered. Stir in the parsley. Allow soup to cool slightly, puree it and return to clean pot. Reheat gently adding lemon juice and vinegar to taste. Season generously. Serve and garnish with cream, or yogurt.
This isn’t the same as my recipe from Sarah’s book from the 80s….. I still make it the same using aduki beans and bulgar wheat. Soy sauce gives it added flavour with the stock. Always been a firm favourite! Often make it without the mash and just make a bit more wet and use it with pasta like a bolognese or stuff Aubergines
This is our adjusted version; it’s such a great recipe though, so adaptable as you say 🙂
Yes I have the 80’s version with soy sauce tomatoes purée and mixed herbs. I use gluten free vegetarian soy sauce and rice as coeliac