Recipes / Small plate
Small plate
Spiced Red Lentil & Sweet Potato Hand Pies
Wayfarer's Pasties
A sealed pie is the original game-table food: the filling stays inside, and it is good warm or at room temperature. Red lentils cook down into a spiced, thick filling in 15 minutes.
At the table: Room temperature up to 2 hours; the cooked filling is perishable.
Not yet table-tested. This recipe is written from standard, well-known methods and has not been through our test tables yet. The badge changes when it has.
Crafting formula
TrainsBladeDoughTime
Stock your pantry to see what you are missing.
Why nowGaming cookbooks get criticized for being meat-heavy. This is the vegetarian dish people will reach for first.
Ingredients
One batch: 12 hand pies.
Filling
Pastry
Kosher salt means Diamond Crystal. With Morton kosher salt, use about half.
Method
Cook the onion in the oil over medium heat 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, curry powder and cumin and stir 1 minute.
Add the lentils, sweet potato, broth and salt. Simmer, stirring often, 15 to 18 minutes.
Look forThe lentils collapse, the potato is tender, and the pan is nearly dry. It should mound on a spoon.
Stir in the spinach and lemon juice. Cool completely.
Look forWarm filling melts the pastry. Spread it on a plate to cool faster.
Heat the oven to 400°F and line two sheet pans with parchment. Roll each crust round slightly thinner and cut 4½-inch circles, re-rolling scraps, to make 12.
Put 2 heaping tablespoons of filling on one half of each circle. Brush the edge with egg, fold, and crimp with a fork. Cut a small slit on top and brush with egg.
Bake 22 to 25 minutes, then cool 10 minutes.
Look forDeep golden brown, including the bottoms.
Make ahead
Freeze unbaked pies on a sheet, then bag them. Bake from frozen, adding 5 to 8 minutes.
Holding
Room temperature up to 2 hours; the cooked filling is perishable.
Allergens
Contains wheat, egg. Always check labels on packaged ingredients.
Notes
Check the crust label: some refrigerated pie crusts are made with lard.
You will have about a cup of filling left over. It is very good on rice.
Tavern Night
This dish's twist table (d6)
| 1–2 | The classic stands. No twist. Cook it as written. |
|---|---|
| 3 | Herb swap. Add chopped cilantro to the filling |
| 4 | Acid strike. Serve with a lime-yogurt dip at the break |
| 5 | Plating challenge. Make 24 mini pies with 3-inch circles |
| 6 | Host's boon. The Host picks any twist above, or the table invents one. The safety rule still applies. |
Roll before you start cooking. No twist ever changes a time, a temperature or how done something must be.