What happens when we bring the comfort and heartiness of British cooking and the spice and spunk of the Indian cuisine?
Well, many good things actually!
Dishes like Mulligatawny soup and Chicken Tikka Masala have long been a fixture in most British pubs and homes.
Perhaps combining Shepherd’s Pie and Rogan Josh curry is not pioneering a new frontier but it IS creating a delicious and memorable dinner nonetheless. Look at the vibrancy of the colours!
Preparing it as easy as 1-2-3 and, even better, I’ve got loads of pictures for you to follow along. 🙂
Ingredients:
- Olive Oil- 1 tbsp.
- Onion, chopped- 1 large
- Cilantro, chopped- 1/2 bunch
- Garlic, minced- 2 cloves
- Extra lean ground beef- 1 lbs (technically Shepherd’s pie is made with ground lamb and Cottage pie is made with beef)
- Carrots, diced-2 ( I used 1 orange and 1 purple!)
- Cauliflower, chopped -1/2 head
- Peas- 1/2 cup
- Rogan Josh curry sauce or your favourite curry sauce ( I used Patak’s sauce since it’s my favourite)
- Water- 1/2 cup
- Potatoes, boiled and mashed- 4 large
- Butter- 2 tbsp.
- Salt and pepper
How do you make Shepherd’s Pie
Wash and peel your potatoes and cut them in smaller and equal pieces, cook them in a slightly salted water until soft and mashable.
While your potatoes are cooking chop and dice all the vegetables. Just look at the colours here, all of the goodness of these will go into your meal! I saw purple carrots being sold at our local Sainsbury’s right before Halloween under the name “Witch’s Nose”. LOL I had to buy them! They look gorgeous and are incredibly sweet. My kids loved crunching on them for a snack. 🙂
Separate cilantro leaves from the stalks, reserve the leaves and chop up the stalks, they carry too much flavour to get rid of them! Cook onions, cilantro stalks and garlic in 1 tbsp. of oil over low heat for 5-7 minutes. 
Add your ground beef and brown until no longer pink with a pinch of salt and pepper. Then add chopped carrots, cauliflower and curry sauce with 1/2 water, bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Taste your curry for the seasoning, add more salt if necessary. 
While your curry is cooking prepare your mashed potato topping. When your potatoes are soft drain them and mash with 2 tbsp. of butter and a pinch of salt.
When your curry is done stir in frozen peas and chopped cilantro. Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.
Empty the contents into a baking dish and top with mashed potatoes.
Bake at 350F/180C for 20-30 minutes until the filling is starting to bubble up. If you like a slightly crusty top on your potatoes broil it for 2-3 minutes at the end of your cooking time. Serve it with poppadums and mango chutney or a spicy lime chilli pickle. 
Or you can dip your poppadoms in the pie filling.
This shepherd’s pie is truly the best of the two worlds- the East and the West blending together.
Ingredients
- Olive Oil- 1 tbsp.
- Onion chopped- 1 large
- Cilantro chopped- 1/2 bunch
- Garlic minced- 2 cloves
- Extra lean ground beef- 1 lbs technically Shepherd's pie is made with ground lamb and Cottage pie is made with beef
- Carrots diced-2 ( I used 1 orange and 1 purple!)
- Cauliflower chopped -1/2 head
- Peas- 1/2 cup
- Rogan Josh curry sauce or your favourite curry sauce I used Patak's sauce since it's my favourite
- Water- 1/2 cup
- Potatoes boiled and mashed- 4 large
- Butter- 2 tbsp.
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Wash and peel your potatoes and cut them in smaller and equal pieces, cook them in a slightly salted water until soft and mashable.
- While your potatoes are cooking chop and dice all the vegetables.
- Separate cilantro leaves from the stalks, reserve the leaves and chop up the stalks, they carry too much flavour to get rid of them! Cook onions, cilantro stalks and garlic in 1 tbsp. of oil over low heat for 5-7 minutes.
- Add your ground beef and brown until no longer pink with a pinch of salt and pepper. Then add chopped carrots, cauliflower and curry sauce with 1/2 water, bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Taste your curry for the seasoning, add more salt if necessary.
- While your curry is cooking prepare your mashed potato topping. When your potatoes are soft drain them and mash with 2 tbsp. of butter and a pinch of salt.
- When your curry is done stir in frozen peas and chopped cilantro. Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.
- Empty the contents into a baking dish and top with mashed potatoes.
- Bake at 350F/180C for 20-30 minutes until the filling is starting to bubble up. If you like a slightly crusty top on your potatoes broil it for 2-3 minutes at the end of your cooking time. Serve it with poppadums and mango chutney or a spicy lime chilli pickle.
For more Indian food check out Chickpea and Butternut Squash Curry.
For British food take at look at Ground Beef Wellington and Wild Rabbit and Pheasant Pie.
I’ve never made one of Julia’s recipes that hasn’t been amazing. This one is no exception! On my first try I could only find Patak’s Rogan Josh paste, not sauce, so I followed my taste buds and adjusted with water for consistency. I did a mix of sweet and russet potatoes to up the fibre and it tasted great. “Add this one to the make ‘again list'” was the family’s request. I made it again at a friend’s but they only had a jar of Tikka Masala sauce, so I used that, plus regular mashed potatoes. Still very good, with lots of flavour, but I preferred the Rogan Josh. I’ll be stock piling the Patak’s RG sauce when I find it again in the grocery store. 💕
Thank you so much, Karyn!! I couldn’t be happier you loved this recipe! 🙂
I found this on Pinterest and had to click to get the recipe. It looks amazing – the best of both worlds. And healthy too! I’ll definitely be making – maybe even tonight if I can get to the store before it closes! I your photographs look amazing as well. Loving your whole blog! I’m a new fan! 🙂
So glad you found your way to Vikalinka. 🙂 Welcome!
Hi Vikalinka!
I was curious how much of the curry sauce is included? And would you happen to know if Winco/Walmart or a local grocery store carries this type of sauce?
Thank you! And your recipes are so unique and I will be trying a lot of them!! Keep up the dedication 🙂
Hi Violet,
I used a whole jar of the curry sauce-450 gr. I am not sure what brands Winco/Walmart carry because I live in England but feel free to use ANY Indian curry sauce you love. 🙂 And thank you for stopping by!!
Walmart does not carry the sauce but you can try any international farmer’s market or an Indian grocery store.
This is right up my alley. I’m a curry fiend & I love Shepherd’s Pie. Thanks!
Music to my ears, Wendy. 🙂
Yes! I found it. I have been wanting to prepare Shepherd’s Pie for weeks but have not been impressed with the few recipes I have found. Your’s is it. Sound delicious, I can’t wait to make it. Thank you!
Oh so glad you found what you were looking for! 🙂
Lovely dish you got!
Thank you Marina! I am pretty excited about this one myself. 🙂