Case #2: Agra Treasure Curried Vegetable Pie

Mrs Hudson thinks that “The Sign of the Four” is one of Mr Holmes’s most exciting adventures. So fascinating, with the Indian elements, those peculiar twins, and the one-legged man and his friend the tiny gentleman with the poisoned dart.

All that lovely treasure sunk to the bottom of the Thames, though. It doesn’t bear thinking about. For this adventure I’ve decided to memorialize the lost treasure in a pie full of golden roasted vegetables. I’ve been hearing about the wonderful curries Her Majesty the Queen enjoys at the palace and I think we should add some Indian flavours via a creamy sauce. The star of the dish will be pearl onions. They remind me of the beautiful pearls belonging to that nice Miss Morstan that married Dr Watson.

Agra Treasure Pie with Sign of the Four decoration

Ingredients 

Pastry for single crust pie, plus a little extra for decorations. Any recipe for flaky pastry is fine as long as it's unsweetened. Frozen pie crust will also work. 

Vegetable filling:
5 cups of roasted vegetables. In this recipe I used about 15 pearl onions, 1 yellow pepper, 3 parsnips, 2 medium potatoes, 2 medium sweet potatoes, and a cup of sliced heirloom baby carrots. You can use any combination you like. 

1/2 cup unsalted roasted cashews, chopped

Curry sauce for filling:
2 cups diced canned tomatoes, drained
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic. minced
3 tbsp butter or ghee
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garam masala or curry powder
1 cup heavy cream

Yogurt sauce for serving:
1 cup of plain thick yogurt 
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt 
1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro 

A selection of vegetables for the filling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

To prepare the filling, cut up the vegetables, toss in a bit of oil, salt and pepper, and roast in batches in a 400 degree oven. Large pearl onions should be cut in half, or if you'll be serving this to small children, cut them all in half. (Mrs Hudson is paranoid that way.) Put them aside in a large bowl. Stir in the chopped cashews.

To prepare the sauce, heat the butter or ghee in a wide saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes or until the onions become translucent. Add all the spices and sauté for about 3 more minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the heavy cream and simmer for another 10-15 minutes until you have a thick sauce. I pureed mine with a hand blender to make a smooth sauce, but that's optional. Pour the sauce into the bowl of vegetables. It's a good idea to pour in the sauce in stages. Only add enough until you get a creamy, but not liquidy, filling. 

Roll out the pie dough and put in the pie pan. For a decoration,  cut out 4 + (plus) signs from a bit of leftover dough. I baked these separately so that they wouldn't burn, and added them on top of the pie afterwards.

Pour the vegetable filling into the pie pan and cook until the filling is hot and the crust is browned. This will probably take about 30 minutes.

While the pie is baking, prepare the yogurt sauce by mixing all ingredients together and chilling in the refrigerator until serving.

Roasted vegetables and pre-baked decorative "Sign"

Spicy curry sauce

Serve the pie warm with some of the cool yogurt sauce. This recipe can be adapted in many ways. You can use different vegetables, but to suit the treasure theme be sure to include some onion pearls and golden root vegetables. The yogurt sauce can be made more like a proper Indian raita, or you could use your favorite herb and spice combination. If you think cilantro leaves taste like soap, by all means pick something different. Do whatever you like--Mrs Hudson is not the boss of you.