Rinse lentils well and add to a medium saucepan with 2½ cups veggie stock. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to simmer for about 20 minutes or until lentils are tender. Make sure you don't overcook because they will have some more cooking time in the over later. I usually like them to still be a little bit firm at this stage but not hard.
While lentils are cooking, peel and chop up potatoes, place in a saucepan, cover with water, add a tsp of sea salt & bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer. When tender, mash with almond milk & vegan margarine & put aside.
If you have a food processor, I would suggest that now is the time to use it because the zucchinis and carrots have to be grated. When I first started making this, I would grate by hand but that was no fun at all and I was very happy when I discovered the grating blade on my food processor.
Finely chop the shallots and finely chop or crush the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a deep frypan or pot - I use my cast iron pot. When hot, add the shallots and garlic. Cook until soft and translucent. Make sure the heat is not too high so the shallots and garlic don't brown.
Add zucchini and carrot and stir through then cook for a few minutes until vegetables are softened.
Add lentils and stir to combine. Add remaining 2 cups of veggie stock and stir. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until stock liquid has almost completely gone.
Add tomato soup and sweet chilli sauce and stir to combine. Bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the mixture is thick and there isn't too much liquid left.
Transfer mixture to the oven proof dish that you want to serve it in. Cover top of mixture with mashed potatoes. You can get fancy & pipe it on with a piping bag but I usually just use a couple of spoons and gently place the potato on top.
Cook for approx. 20 minutes or until potatoes has browned slightly.
Remove from oven & serve with peas. Yum!
Recipe by my vegan plate at https://www.myveganplate.com/lentil-shepherds-pie/