hunza pie

Posted on | August 12, 2009 | 1 Comment

i bet some of you remember this filthy healthy stuff from the seventies.
a layer of brown rice, covered with cooked spinach, covered with cheese and baked.
it was just kinda bland and yet…..the combo had charm.

wandering the vegetable garden this afternoon, looking at three kinds of spinach running wild out there, and i was suddenly hungry for hunza pie.
but this time, *I* was in charge of the production and *I* was determined to jazz the thing up.

this is the usual no-recipe recipe.
it’s not really something you can make a mistake with.
the hunzas didn’t live routinely to more than 100 years old by stressing out over pie recipes. so you needn’t either.

improved hunza pie
…………………………..

grease and line a springform cake tin.
pre-heat oven to 180 C.

take about 4 cups of cooked white OR brown rice and mix in 2 beaten eggs, a good slurp of tamari, a sprinkle of chilli flakes, some chopped fresh herbs (whatever you like), some sea salt, some fresh black pepper, a couple handfuls of grated cheddar, and a handful of mixed sunflower/pumpkin seeds.
i used parsley/basil/chives/oregano.
mix it all well.
press it into the bottom of the springform pan and be quite firm with it….it is going to be the “crust” and you don’t want it all flopping uselessly about when you cut it.

spread over a layer of cooked spinach. or silverbeet. or rocket. or warrigal greens. or a mixture of all those. just make sure they get a little bit of salt and pepper.
and save the cooking water for your pot of potato/garlic/greens soup.
i picked an armload of greens and they steamed down to just enough for this pie.

now, layer over some more grated cheddar and top with sliced tomatoes and chopped fresh herbs. i used fresh sage.

bake that thing for about 30 minutes.
then turn up the heat to 200 C and give it ten minutes more for the top to brown a little.

remove from oven and let it stand a few minutes before removing the pan.
cut into slices and serve with a salad or just on it’s own.

we found it very delicious and everyone is happy that there will be enough to eat tomorrow cold.

pre-bake: