Vegan Potato Pot pie topped with Potato Biscuit

There are a few kitchen staples in almost every home. One such ingredient is 'Potato'. It is one of those vegetables which is not only versatile, but also absorbs flavors like a sponge. 
 
When I migrated from India 13 years back, the only potato I knew about was the kind they call 'White potatoes' here in the U.S. But only when I was invited to participate in thie month’s Kitchen PLAY Progressive Paryty did I learn that there are actually seven unique types  of potatoes. You can read all about different kinds of potatoes here.
Each potato type has its own use. For example, I have used two kinds of potatoes in this recipe. Red potatoes were used in the vegetable mixture because they can retain their shape even after cooking. I used white potatoes wherever I needed the potato mashed or pureed since they give a very creamy flesh when mashed.

I sometimes use a potato in soup to make it thick instead of using other thickeners. It is better in nutrition than adding flour to thicken the broth or soup. Potato flour makes an excellent egg substitute too. Use potato flour instead of corn starch to replace egg.

There is some confusion about the nutritional benefits of potatoes.  For instance, did you know that a medium potato eaten with its skin on provides nearly half your daily value of Vitamin C? And only 110 calories? I didn’t!  If you are interested in learning more about all potatoes have to offer, you can learn more about them here.
Coming to today’s recipe, I made this as an amuse bouche, baked in individual ramekins. If you want  to make it as an entree, bake the filling in a casserole topped with the potato biscuits. Either way, it is delicious!

Ingredients: (Makes 8 - 10 ramekin sized pot pies)
For the filling:
Olive oil - 2 TBSP
Red Onion diced - 1/2 cup
Celery - 1 rib sliced
Carrot - 1 medium peeled and diced
Garlic - 1 pod smashed or minced
Red Potatoes - 3 medium cut into 1" cubes
Frozen peas - 1/2 cup
White potato - 1 small boiled and peeled and mashed to get 1/2 cup mashed potato
Sage - 2 TBSP fresh or 1 TBSP dried (Or use your favorite herb)
Water or Vegetable broth - 1 1/2 cups - 2 cups
Salt - to taste
Pepper - 1 tsp crushed or as per taste (Or use red chilli flakes / Cayanne )

For the pastry:
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup + 1 TBSP divided use
Sugar - 4 tsp (optional)
Baking Powder - 4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cooked mashed potato - 2/3 cup (Use white potato)
Olive Oil - 4 TBSP
Water or milk - 2 - 6 TBSP as needed to make the dough
Red chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method:
Make the filling:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add garlic, followed by chopped onions. Sprinkle some salt and let it wilt. Add celery, carrots, peas and red potatoes. Add crushed black pepper to taste, sage and water. Cover the pot and let all the veggies get tender but not mushy. When the vegetables are done, remove few TBSP of water from the pot and mix 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes and pour it back to the vegetable mixture. This acts like thickener and replaces the traditional roux. Bring it to a gentle simmer and adjust the water or vegetable broth if needed to get the gravy consistency that is needed. Pour into the small ramekins filling only 3/4 full. Mix remaining 1 TBSP of flour with 1 - 2 tsp of water to make a thin paste for the glue.

Make the dough for the biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. In a bowl, take all the ingredients mentioned above under 'For the pastry:' except milk. Using a pastry blender, mix all of them till the mashed potato is uniformly mixed with flour. Add water or milk 1 TBSP at a time to make the dough. Roll it on lightly floured surface 1/2" - 1/3 " thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter that is little larger than the ramekin you are using. I didn't have a biscuit cutter larger than the ramekin, so used the knife to cut it to the desired size.

Top the Ramekin with the cut dough. Brush the sides of the ramekins with the glue that you made with flour and water. Press the dough to the sides of the ramekin. Repeat with others. Cut the dough to vent the steam. Place all the ramekins on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until the biscuit top is golden. You could brush the crust with egg wash to make the crust look beautiful or brush with some milk. Serve hot.

Notes:
Since the pastry is low fat one and has baking powder in it, it is not crispy like a puff pastry is. Having said that, it is still flaky, but soft on the inside and crispy outside. Inspiration to making potato biscuit came from Paula Deen's sweet potato biscuit recipe.

You can subscribe to weekly recipes featuring potatoes here. Link to U.S Potato Board's facebook page can be found here.

Exciting Opportunity:

The US Potato Board is also sponsoring a wonderful giveaway here at Kitchen PLAY. Simply recreate any one recipe from this month’s Progressive Party, post about the experience on your blog and provide a link to your post on Kitchen PLAY to enter. All qualifying bloggers in each course will be entered to win $100 (6 prizes total).  The deadline is April 15, 2012. Please review the complete contest rules before entering. Good luck!

Disclaimer: I was compensated to write this post.