Sunflower Spinach Pie Recipe

Sunflower Spinach Pie

For all the happy and sunny days that are coming ahead, I thought I would share this sunny sunflower pie recipe. It's sophisticated look may be deceiving, but in fact it's rather easy to make.
The only part I find difficult in this recipe is the twisting of the sunflower petals, as I think I am not artistic enough to do justice with them.  I must admit that I have no difficulty in doing justice with the pie when I eat it.

First we will make the dough, while the dough is having a nap. we can prepare the filling, which consists of spinach and ricotta cheese. Make this pie when you plan a party and impress your family and friends.I have made some changes to the original pie crust recipe. There's no milk in the original recipe, but I have used it. Still I think that the final results will more or less be the same. So milklet's gather our ingredients which are as follows:

Ingredients	Quantity
plain flour	500g
milk	200ml
oil	1/4 cup
baking powder	1/2 tsp
salt	1tsp
cooked spinach	350g
ricotta	350g
bread crumbs	3-4 tbsp
parmesan	100g
sesame seeds	as needed
egg wash	1 beaten egg
black pepper and salt	to taste

Method:

You can use sunflower seeds instead of sesame if you want to keep up with the theme. I have used 2 tbsp of boiled peas in the filling so you can too, but there are no peas in the original recipe.

Sieve flour and salt, place on a working surface, make a well in the center add milk and oil. Mix till mixture resembles bread crumbs. Knead well until dough is elastic and pliable. Add a little more milk if you find that the dough doesn't come together. Leave to rest for half an hour. Cover with cling film.

While the dough is resting prepare the filling. Take cooked spinach, salt, pepper, ricotta, egg and parmesan. Mix well also add bread crumbs combine properly, and set aside.

Divide the dough into two equal balls. Roll each ball out in a circle. Place a small bowl or plate, I have used a jar lid in the middle of the circle. This will be used as a central mark to place the filling. Press down gently to mark the center.

                                 Remove the lid or bowl and place the filling in the center.

                        Place the remaining filling all along the sides as shown in the picture below.

                            

Place the other circle on top press gently again place the lid or bowl on to mark an indentation.

                                 Make equal slits all along the sides as shown in the picture below.

Twist each slit in the upward direction to form a petal. Keep twisting till all petals are made.

       Open the petals and pinch so that they look like sunflower petals.

Brush with egg wash, decorate the center with pumpkin or sesame seeds. and bake at 180 degree till golden brown. I hope you like this recipe do share with me what you think of this recipe.

Try the recipe and do tell me what you think about it. Hope to hear from my dear readers, thank you for visiting this blog.

Additional Notes:
For a vegan filling substitute, ricotta with tofu and replace parmesan with equal number of crumbs.
To replace eggs, use 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds and 3 tbsp water for each egg used in the recipe above.
Other -wise you can always buy ready made egg substitutes from the supermarket. There are vegan milk substitutes available in the supermarket.