As seen on The Great British Bake Off!

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The moment I saw this pie on Season 7, Episode 8 (Pastry Week) of the Great British Bake Off, I knew I had to make it. It’s honestly so delicious and looks BEAUTIFUL once baked. We obviously aren’t professional bakers who can make a warqa pastry effortlessly for our dinner, so we’re going to cheat and buy some pre-made phyllo dough. But the rest of the filling is so delicious that you will still feel like you deserve a Hollywood handshake.

Ingredient details:

Phyllo Dough – I just used the packaged phyllo dough I found at kroger. Any kind will do, but read the label. Most brands do not use butter or other animal products, but you still want to be extra cautious. I always double up by reading the label AND googling the product.

Sweet potato – Just a medium/large sweet potato for this recipe. You will be peeling and dicing into small 1/2 inch pieces.

Tofu – I used a method where you freeze the tofu and then let it thaw. This creates an extra meaty texture. The original recipe calls for chicken (hard pass). I didn’t think about it, but you could also use seitan! If you use seitan, I would do about one cup for this recipe. You don’t want it to come on too strong, and seitan can be a stronger flavor than tofu.

Onion – I used one medium yellow onion, diced.

Garlic – I used 8 cloves for this recipe.

Dates – I love medjool dates! I could eat them forever if I could. This recipe calls for dates and it really elevates the dish and creates a great texture in the filling. Definitely chop these into tiny pieces so they blend well throughout the dish. Also try to sprinkle the date pieces into the filling mixture so that the dates don’t clump.

Chickpeas – Canned or dried chickpeas are fine. I just use canned to make my life a bit easier.

Lemon – Use 2 tbsp or squeeze out all the juice from one medium lemon.

Better than Boullion – I used a better than boullion cube of vegetable stock. Make sure you use the paste and not a liquid vegetable stock or your filling will be too wet.

Seasonings: Harissa seasoning, fennel, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, parsley

Optional: Thyme. Fresh thyme can be used to top the pie. Thyme is used often in north African and middle eastern cuisine and is mostly used as the main ingredient in the spice mix called za’atar. It is delicious and tastes very nostalgic to my time living in this region and pairs really well with the dish. Give it a try!

Detailed Instructions:

Pan prep: Start by dicing onion and mincing garlic. Cook in medium pan until translucent. Remove from heat.

Baking prep: Peel and dice sweet potato into small, 1/2 inch cubes. Tear apart pieces of pressed firm tofu into nugget sized chunks (about an inch) and toss in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of corn starch. This will make sure the tofu has all moisture taken out and you are left with crisp and firm pieces. Place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Bake both the tofu and the sweet potato on 350° for 20 minutes.

Filling mixture: Finely chop the dates. In a large mixing bowl, mix the dates, chickpeas, lemon juice, seasonings, and boullion cube. Add the caramelized onions and the cooked sweet potato and tofu. Mix gently but thoroughly enough to have all ingredients well blended.

Pie assembly: In two pie pans, layer sheets of phyllo dough in a rotating pattern until the bottom of the pan is well covered (at least 15 sheets). You want to make sure that each piece is in the pan, but also hangs a few inches off the sides of the pan. Fill the inside of the pan with the filling to the top of the pie pan. Lay 3 pieces of pastry sheets on top of the filling and then fold in the sheets that were used for the bottom. Tear 2-3 pieces of remaining dough and sprinkle on top for texture. Bake on 350° for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe List

Prep time: 30 minutes

Bake time: 30 minutes

Makes: 2 pies

Ingredients:

16oz package phyllo Dough

1 medium/large sweet potato

14oz package firm tofu

1 yellow onion

8 cloves garlic

5-6 medjool dates

15oz can chickpeas

2 tbsp lemon

1 tbsp harissa seasoning

1 cube vegetable stock

1 tsp fennel

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp coriander

1tbsp parsley

Optional: Fresh thyme to top the pie.

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350°
2. Dice onion and mince garlic
3. Cook in medium pan until translucent. Remove from heat.
4. Peel and dice sweet potato into 1/2 in cubes.
5. Tear tofu into small chunls and toss in cornstarch.
6. Bake both sweet potato and tofu on 350° for 20 minutes.
7. Finely chop dates into tiny pieces.
8. In large mixing bowl, combine dates, chickpeas, lemon juice, seasonings, boullion cube, onions, garlic, tofu, and sweet potato. Stir gently until everything is mixed.
9. In two pie pans, layer phyllo down in circular pattern pointing out. Leave 1/4 of the pieces hanging out of the pan. Use about 15 sheets on the bottom.
10. Pour in half the filliing into each pan (it should reach the top of the pan).
11. Place about 3 pieces on top. Fold over the hanging pieces from the bottom crust.
12. Tear up a few extra pieces and sprinkle on top for textured effect.
13. Bake on 350°for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

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