Preparing the sweetpotatoes 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
   
2. Rinse and scrub the sweetpotatoes and using a fork, poke holes all over them before placing them on a sheet of tin foil, drizzling with 1tbsp of olive oil and wrapping them up.
3. Place the wrapped sweetpotatoes on a baking tray and bake at 180°C for 45-60 minutes or until they are cooked all the way through. You can test this by inserting a knife into the thickest part to see if they’re soft.

Making the filling 

1. Put the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil into a frying pan and add the chopped onion, frying gently for 15 minutes or until softened and golden brown.
2. Add the diced aubergine, Italian mixed herbs, paprika and cooked barley and fry gently for another 10 minutes.
3. Scrape the mix out of the pan and put into a bowl, leave to cool slightly.
4. Once cooled, add the eggs, breadcrumbs, whole grain mustard, cheddar, salt and pepper then mix with a spatula until all ingredients are combined.

Assembling the dish 

1. Using baking paper, draw an outline around your hand to create the shape, and cut around the template.
2. Lay the paper cut out over each pastry sheet and carefully cut around the hand with a small sharp knife. Once cut, place the pastry hand on a baking-paper-lined baking tray.
3. Carefully spoon the mixture onto the hand, ensuring that you only place a small amount of filling within the fingers.
4. Peel the cooked sweetpotatoes and cut into sticks to make the bones of the hand. Place the sweetpotato sticks onto the mixture that has been added to the pastry hand so that there is an even spread throughout.
5. Cover the sticks with more of the mixture then, place another pastry hand on top, using your fingers to seal the edges to the bottom pastry layer.
6. Brush the hand with egg wash, place it into the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and serve. 

Prep time: 1 hour 45 minutes  

Cooking time: 40 minutes