Vegan cabbage and mushroom pies

What does you like for a treat?

Sometimes when my family wants a pastry, I cook amazing cabbage and mushroom pies. It’s a vegan-friendly, yeast-free, whole-wheat recipe. It’s a healthy taste of home. Try it!

Since childhood my spouse and I used to eat yeast pies made of white flour. But since we have changed a traditional nutrition to a healthy plant-based diet, we had to change out tastes too.

First, we replaced white flour with whole-wheat. Here are some healthy fact about whole-wheat flour vs. white:

1. One of the nutritional differences between whole-wheat and white flour is the food’s fiber content. Dietary fiber has a number of health benefits. It prevents constipation, lowers blood cholesterol and might help you lose weight. White flour contains less fiber because the refining process associated with making white flour separates the fiber-rich brain from the rest of the grain.
2. If you seek to regulate your blood sugar after a meal, choose foods made with whole-wheat flour.
3. Whole-wheat flour provides a nutritional advantage over white flour due to its vitamin content. It is rich in folate, riboflavin and vitamins B-1, B-3 and B-5.

When you bake at home, try using 100% whole-wheat flour or at least use a mix of whole-wheat and white flours.

You can buy whole-wheat flour here.

Hand pies are the cutest. They are easy to make, made with the simplest of ingredients and nutritious.

Make the dough first, so it can chill as you prepare the filling.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups whole-wheat flour
• 30-50 ml. coconut (melted) or olive oil
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 small or 1/2 head green cabbage
• 1 medium onion
• 0.44 lb. mushrooms

Prepare the filling first in order to give it enough time to cool down.

Thinly slice cabbage, onion and mushrooms. Discard tough ribs from cabbage.

Heat coconut or olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and cook, stirring, until soft about 8-10 minutes. Take them away in a bowl.

Heat another tablespoon of oil in the skillet and add onion. Cook until it fairly soft and fragrant, but not browned. It’s about 3 minutes. Add the cabbage to the skillet, season with salt. Pour in some water if you need. Cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until it is very tender and starting to turn golden.

Let the filling cool before assembling the hand pies.

Then mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Then add oil, pinch and press the dough with your fingers. I use coconut oil, it has high smoke points. Gradually add warm water as you toss the flour mixture with a fork. Then stir the dough smooth. Wrap the dough and place it to chill for 15-20 minutes.

To assemble the hand pies, slightly flour a work surface. Divide the dough into same sized pieces. Then shape each piece into a round and press with your fingertips until you have a disk. Roll each disk into a round not very thin.

Put some filling in the center of each dough round. Gently cover 1 half of the round with another one, so that the filling doesn’t get out on the edges of the dough. Press the edges tightly with a fork.

This time I used a special dough tool for modeling pies. It’s a nice new thing in my kitchen.

You can bake the pies in well-heated oven for 20 minutes. The required temperature is 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit. I don’t have an oven in this flat, so I bake them on a skillet. You need to fry your pies for 2-3 minutes on each side over medium heat without covering the lid. Usually I don’t use any oil.

Another amazing variant of hand pies is apple pies. We use apples and cinnamon as a filling.

If you like whole-wheat flour pastry, then bake pumpkin buns. You can find the recipe here.

Enjoy your meal!