Courgette and Chick Pea Filo Pie
by Nigella. Featured in HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESSIntroduction
This is a wonderful pie for those of you who don't feel like making your own pastry: it's made with shop-bought filo, and is easy — and rather calming — to assemble. I learnt to make the Italian Pizza Rustica from the wonderful Anna del Conte, and this very much borrows from that in method, shape and structure, though the pastry and spicing owes nothing to the Italian version. I can't claim this as an Iranian creation, but I certainly had the tastes and fragrances of some Iranian dishes in mind when I first made it.
For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
This is a wonderful pie for those of you who don't feel like making your own pastry: it's made with shop-bought filo, and is easy — and rather calming — to assemble. I learnt to make the Italian Pizza Rustica from the wonderful Anna del Conte, and this very much borrows from that in method, shape and structure, though the pastry and spicing owes nothing to the Italian version. I can't claim this as an Iranian creation, but I certainly had the tastes and fragrances of some Iranian dishes in mind when I first made it.
For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Ingredients
Serves: 6-8
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 small onion (finely diced)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3 plump courgettes
- 125 grams basmati rice
- 500 millilitres vegetable stock
- 2 x 400 grams tins chickpeas (drained)
- 100 grams melted butter
- 200 grams filo pastry
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 small onion (finely diced)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3 plump zucchini
- 1¼ cups basmati rice
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 x 15 ounces tins garbanzo beans (drained)
- 7 tablespoons melted butter
- 7 ounces filo pastry
Method
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200ºC/ 180ºC Fan/400ºF and put in a baking sheet.
- Gently fry the cumin seeds and onion in the olive oil until the onion's soft. Add the turmeric and coriander. Dice the courgettes (unpeeled), add them to the onion mixture, and cook on a fairly high heat to prevent the courgettes becoming watery. When they are soft but still holding their shape, add the rice and stir well, letting the rice become well coated in the oil.
- Add the stock 100ml / ½ cup at a time, stirring while you do so. When all the liquid has been absorbed the rice should be cooked, so take it off the heat, stir in the chick peas and check the seasoning.
- Brush the insides of a 22cm / 9 inch springform tin with some of the melted butter. Line the bottom and sides of the tin with 3/4 of the filo, buttering each piece as you layer. Leave a little filo overlapping the sides, and keep 3-4 layers for the top. Carefully put in your slightly cooled filling, and then fold in the overlaps. Butter the last layers of filo and scrunch on top of the pie as a covering.
- Brush with a final coat of butter, and put in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the filo is golden and the middle hot. Check this by inserting a slim, sharp-bladed knife (or cake-tester). If, when you remove it, it feels hot when you press it against your wrist, the pie's ready.
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200ºC/ 180ºC Fan/400ºF and put in a baking sheet.
- Gently fry the cumin seeds and onion in the olive oil until the onion's soft. Add the turmeric and coriander. Dice the zucchini (unpeeled), add them to the onion mixture, and cook on a fairly high heat to prevent the zucchini becoming watery. When they are soft but still holding their shape, add the rice and stir well, letting the rice become well coated in the oil.
- Add the stock 100ml / ½ cup at a time, stirring while you do so. When all the liquid has been absorbed the rice should be cooked, so take it off the heat, stir in the chick peas and check the seasoning.
- Brush the insides of a 22cm / 9 inch springform tin with some of the melted butter. Line the bottom and sides of the tin with 3/4 of the filo, buttering each piece as you layer. Leave a little filo overlapping the sides, and keep 3-4 layers for the top. Carefully put in your slightly cooled filling, and then fold in the overlaps. Butter the last layers of filo and scrunch on top of the pie as a covering.
- Brush with a final coat of butter, and put in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the filo is golden and the middle hot. Check this by inserting a slim, sharp-bladed knife (or cake-tester). If, when you remove it, it feels hot when you press it against your wrist, the pie's ready.
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Show more commentsThis was delicious as well as being lovely to make. Mine turned out looking just like the photo my first time of making and the taste and textures were sublime. I'll be making this recipe again.
Fantastic , I’m making this today !!
I've made this pie a lot and it's always terrific. I tend to use about 300g of filo pastry instead of 200g because I'm paranoid it will go soggy but either way it tastes delicious. Most recently I completely forgot about adding the chickpeas and it was still really good as a rice and courgette pie)
I was a bit worried to try this recipe because the use of fillo dough always seemed daunting to me, but I am glad I took the risk! It was surprisingly simple to put together and it tasted absolutely delicious. The leftovers were even better as lunch the next day. I will definitely be making this recipe again and again!
Great recipe, love the texture of the rice inside the pie.