Ingredients

Topping:

1 Tbs curry leaves

½ tsp ground turmeric

3 medium potatoes 

1 large sweet potato

Salt

Knob butter

1 Tbs milk

Base:

500 g mutton mince

1 big onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp allspice

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp cloves

2 cardamom pods

½ tsp chili powder or fresh chopped

½ tsp sumac

I big Tbs massa pimento/tomato paste

5 stalks of thyme (not lemon thyme)

1/2 cup fresh/frozen peas

Method

Soak curry leaves in water for 2 hours. Boil peeled potatoes starting with cold water, drain and add a knob (about a teaspoon in size) of butter and a little milk (tablespoon). Use a hand masher and keep it a little bit chunky. Sprinkle in half teaspoon of fine ground turmeric, salt and pepper and the curry leaves. Let stand and cool.

Fry spices, then diced onion, then fry mutton mince, making sure it crumbles and doesn’t stick. Keep breaking it apart with a wooden spoon. Add one big tablespoon of massa pimento. I guess you can use tomato sauce paste, but check the salt as the pimento is very salty, and cook with the mutton mince for about 20 minutes. Strip thyme leaves from stalks, add to mince together with half a lemon and its squeezed juice, and cook for 5 minutes.

Let cool a little, stir in peas, then add as a base layer in the pie dish, smooth the mash on top and use a fork to roughen the top so it gets nice crispy tips and bits. Bake at 180℃ for 15 minutes and then 10 minutes with the grill on until the edges and tips are nicely browned.

Goes well with a simple tomato salad. DM/TGIFood

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