There is one little thing about life that I learnt out of a coffee cup. The fact that often we struggle through a cup of coffee, thinking that we’ve forgotten to add sugar. Too lazy to get up, we actually get used to the bitterness till we discover un-dissolved sugar crystals sitting at the bottom! We just had to stir it. That’s life. When you are down, all you need to do is stir it. In our case, when we are down, we go and make ourselves some awesome food that stirs us from the bottom of our heart! Dig into the Feel Good Food 2: The shepherd’s pie.
Though it may look like a task, the first bite will make it all worth it! Trust us. Don’t be too lazy.
Ingredients:
For the meat layer
- Minced mutton (or the meat of your choice): 1 kg
- Onions: 1 large, peeled and diced
- Carrots: 1 large, peeled and diced
- Garlic Clove: 1, peeled and crushed
- Canned tomatoes: 400 gm
- Peas: 1 cup
- Flour: 1 ½ tbsp
- Worcestershire sauce: 2 tbsp
- Chopped Parsley: 2- 3 tbsp
- Chicken stock: 1 cup
- Tomato paste: 3 tbsp
- Oil: 1 tbsp
- Salt & pepper to taste
For potato layer
- Potatoes: 1 kg, chopped and peeled
- Butter: 2 ½ tbsp
- Milk: ½ cup
- Grated cheese: 1 cup
Procedure for meat
In a pan or wok, add oil. On medium heat, add garlic, onions and carrots. Cook for 2 -3 minutes or until the vegetables become soft. Increase the heat and add the raw meat. Cook on high heat for 5 minutes or until the meat has changed color. Keep mashing while stirring. To this, add your tomato paste and cook for a minute and a half. Follow with chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, crushed tomatoes, salt & pepper. Cook till the liquid has evaporated to ½. It should look like a thick minced meat gravy.
Procedure for potato topping
Boil the potatoes and drain. Mash with all the other ingredients
The big oven saga
Pre-heat your oven to 210 degrees C. Mix parsley and peas to your meat mixture.
In an oven proof dish, pour in the meat mixture. Top it off with mashed potato and cheese. Don’t level the potatoes. Bake till bubbling and brown.