Vegetarian Strawberry and Apple pie

Here come  the Nine Emperor Gods Festival (Tesagan Gin Je เทศกาลกินเจ, the Vegetarian Festival) again.


It will start tomorrow (23th September) I already got e-mails asking for vegetarian recipes, because we can't eat eggs or dairy product during  Tesagan Gin Je ^^.

Actually, my family don't strict, we still drinking milk but I'm happy to create the recipe for this time. Because I know that most of us can't live without sweetness in our life ^-*.
By the way I just got Shortening from King Rice bran oil company (Thai Edible Oil Co., Ltd. ), it's non-hydrogenated (I had a chance to tried it while they still developed the product a year ago, but now they success), it will be on the market next month. 

It made from 100% rice bran oil and it's non-hydrogenated, so it is good for your health than other kinds of shortening.
When I received it, the first thing that I think about was the Vegetarian Festival. I rarely use shortening much as I think it's not good for our health (well, real butter is better for me), but with this kind of shortening I think I can use it more. Actually you can use it instead of butter (with a bit of adjustment as shortening is 100% fat while the butter is about 80-85% fat (the rest is water and milk segment).
I create this recipe "Vegetarian Strawberry and Apple pie" for this time, sweet, tangy and fragrance, you will forget it's Vegetarian! Esp. when the filling is strawberry and apple, that's both delicious and beautiful.
This pastry is very easy to make, and after refrigerating you can reroll it without fear, it's very easy to handle. But I have to note that don't roll it to thin or it will be hard to take it out of the pan (the pastry is quite crumbly)
NOTE: Don't forget to refrigerate (or freeze) the shortening before using as the pastry texture will be better when the fat is cold. 

 Vegetarian Strawberry and apple pie

Makes 5 (9.5x2 cm mini pie pans)

Crust  
330g ............................ All purpose flour
1tsp .............................. Salt
1tbsp ............................ Granulated sugar
240g ............................ Shortening, cold and cut into small pieces*
liquid 
30ml ............................ Cold water
30g .............................. Ice
1tbsp ............................ Cider vinegar

Filling
500g ............................. Apple (peeled and cut into 1.5cm dices)
300g ............................. Fresh or frozen strawberries
55-70g .......................... Light brown sugar (depends on how sweet your strawberry is)
40g ............................... Shortening
...................................... Pinch of salt 

*Note: Weight the shortening and freeze it before using

 Mix flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl.

 Put the shortening into the bowl.

 Use your hand to mix the shortening into the flour mixture, don't need to mix it until smooth, small chunks are fine.

 Mix the liquid ingredients together.
You will need about 3-5 tbsp of the liquid (without ice), add it 1 tbsp at a time, mix until the dough come together. 

 Shape into a ball (or square, ^^). 

 Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

 Make the filling, (if using fresh strawberries, hull them) cut the strawberries into pieces before using.

 Put the shortening in a pan over low heat.

 When the shortening melt, put the fruits into the pan.

 Stir until all the fruits soften, add the sugar.

Heat until the liquid reduce and thicken.
Remove from the heat and let it cool completely.

 Brush small pie pans with shortening.

 Remove pie dough from the fridge and roll into 4mm thickness.

 Line the prepared pie pans with the dough (you can reroll the dough until you finish all of them, if the dough becomes too soft refrigerate it). 
When finish lining the pan, refrigerate them for 10 minutes.

 Divide the filling into the prepared pans.

 Roll the rest of the dough and cut into strips.

Brush the side of the pie with water, cover the top of the pie with the strips, press to stick and smooth the side of the pie.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C.
When ready, bake the pie for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180C and bake for 15-20 minutes more or until golden brown (Note that because the dough doesn't contain an egg, the pastry color is quite pale).

Vegetarian Strawberry and Apple pie