Meat Pie is simply a crust or pastry with meat filling and other savory ingredients that is served as a main dish or snack. The pastry is made with two major ingredients: wheat flour and fats (lard or butter), mixed to form a stiff dough and then shaped into straight-sided with sealed-on floors and lids.
The recipe as would be explained below is derived from West Africa, specifically known as the Nigerian meat pie. It is also similar to the Jamaican beef patty and is either baked or fried, and the filling can anything from meat, potato salad to egg sauce or corned beef. It is sold at almost every fast food outlets around in the country.
Ingredients
For the Pie Dough
1 kg (8 cups) plain flour (All Purpose Flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
500g (1.1 lbs) Margarine
2 pinches salt
1 tsp of nutmeg
½ cup (125 ml / 4.2 oz) cold water
1 medium egg for coating
for the Meat filling
500g (1.1 lbs) minced meat
1 medium onion
2 cooking spoons vegetable oil
2 medium carrots
2 medium Irish potatoes
Spices: 1 teaspoon thyme, 2 stock cubes, curry and salt to taste
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 cup (250 ml / 8.4 oz) cold water
Recipe for Meat Pie
For the Meat filling
1. Scrape the Irish potatoes and the carrots, wash them with the onions and slice into tiny cubes.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep frying pan, under a medium heat, and fry the diced onions and the minced meat. Sprinkle a pinch of salt to taste and keep stirring it gently, until the meat is cooked and looking brownish.
3. Pour in a cup of water, curry, stock cubes and thyme and allow to boil for few minutes, then add the diced potatoes and carrots. Cook for another 5 minutes until the content is tender.
4. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of plain flour in ½ cup of cold water and add to the meat sauce. This is to keep the meat pie filling moist and not dry up during baking.
5. Stir the contents and turn off the heat and set the meat filling aside.
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For the Pie dough
Measure 1 kg of flour in a dry clean bowl; add 2 pinches of salt, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon nutmeg and mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Be careful with the salt since the pie gets most of its taste from the filling.
Measure the butter with a tablespoon into the bowl of dry ingredients (flour…)
With your fingertips, rub in the butter into the flour until the dry mixture becomes like crumbs.
Add the cold water in bits while folding the mixture to form a stiff dough. A small quantity of water is all that is required to get the dough stiff.
Knead the dough gently, taking care not to over-knead it. Mould and leave it in the bowl to rest for about 5 to 10 minutes to relax the dough and make it more elastic.
Cut the dough into equal portions, roll out each portion on a floured surface into round shapes (5mm thickness). Using a pie cutter, scrape off the excess dough to get a round shape.
Fill in the meat into the center of the round cuts; just enough quantity to allow folding.
Break the egg, beat and rub it on the inside edge of the cut meat pie dough.
Seal the dough to form a crescent shape. Fold one edge of the dough towards the end and use a fork to press the two edges together to seal tightly.
Set your oven to 185°C and leave to preheat while you continue to shape the meat pie.
Coat the oven tray with thin layers of butter and set aside. This is to keep the crescent meat pie from sticking to the pan.
Also, you may coat the surfaces of the pies with the raw egg to give it a smooth golden brown appearance after baking.
Place the pies in the preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes – and keep checking as the time may vary which could depend on the type of oven and its heating capacity.
