Nigerian Meat Pies and Christmas.

If you’ve been following my website for more than a few months, you know that nothing is what it seems. Thankfully though, when I share a recipe, it’s an actual recipe-not a rouse to get clicks. Look out, it will be full of unfortunates and silly truths, too. Today is Christmas Eve. Most years I would wake up, drive over to my Mama’s with presents to slide under their tree (because for whatever reason, that’s where they belong), “help” her cook desserts for Christmas and get on my brothers’ nerves. Not this year, though. This year I am in Nigeria. I woke up this morning and didn’t want to get out of bed. I guess I underestimated how hard this would be. A few people have said “YOU LOOK SO HAPPY!” and of course I am! I love it here. I love learning more and I love getting to know the babies, BUT my goodness do I miss my family and friends. I think that’s just a part of the process. So I got out of bed, prayed for some understanding, and ran to the kitchen.

Today I made Banana Bread Pudding, but obviously that’s not the recipe I’m sharing. I just thought I’d share the results before moving on to meat pies!

So here we go:

First, I started on the filling. The recipe called for chopped onions, potatoes, and carrots, but I decided to add bell pepper and garlic; fight me. I chopped it all up pretty small because I wasn’t sure how big I’d make the pies. Here’s a picture for your visual satisfaction. (I also preheated the oven at 350 degrees or #4 for my gas stove folks)

I went ahead and grilled the onions, garlic, and bell pepper before adding the ground meat and potatoes. I seasoned it with onion powder, black pepper, salt, CAYENNE, curry powder, and thyme. Once the meat was browned the potatoes still had a ways to go. Add 1 cup of water and about 1/4 cup of flour to create a chowder- like consistency. I’m sure you could dump it all in there, but I gradually added the flour to avoid clumping. I let that cook down while I prepared the dough.

The dough was pretty simple. 2 cups of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, 1 cup of butter (room temp), and 1/2 cup of water. Add the water gradually because you may not need it all. It was in this moment that I realized I didn’t have enough butter. I actually had WAY less than a cup, so I dumped half of my flour into that plastic container and reconsidered life as I knew it, lol. Nevertheless, the show went on. Mix it up really well, roll it into a ball, and refrigerate while you check on that beef. I think I left it in for about 15 minutes.

I recommend doing the dough FIRST. Then you won’t have to aimlessly wait for it to sit while you have a pot of cooked filling just chillin on a low fire. I, on the other hand, did not take my own advice. Instead, I danced around the kitchen listening to Janet Jackson and eating 3 day old muffins. See below:

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The dough came out, and it was time to make the pie crust. I should’ve used bigger circles, but again, I’m a stubborn cook, so I did not. I ended up flipping a small bowl and using it as my cutout for the circles. Use what ya got to get where ya goin’! Don’t forget to add flour to your roller or the dough will, in fact, stick…Disregard my last cutout. I was running out of dough, but “Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind, or forgotten” -Stitch.

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I put about 2 tablespoons on each circle and of course it spilled out once I forked them closed because they were too small. Yet and still, we pushed on. They all were stuffed, and popped in the oven for about 30 mins. They’re not as pretty as I would’ve liked, and that’s probably because they are missing 3/4 cups of butter BUT this is a place of transparency, so I figured I’d show my first failed attempt before I practiced and got it right. We shall meet again.

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Cooking is always super therapeutic for me. I do it when I’m feeling down, I do it when I’m having a good day, I do it when I’m with family, or by myself. I wasn’t sure how I would fill my time while the kids were gone, but I think I’ve found it in the kitchen. I hope you enjoyed my not so traditional recipe. I’ll post a quick list at the bottom for my folks who ACTUALLY want to try them. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know how they turnout and what I could do differently.

As always, thank you for reading.

I love you.

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Ingredients

(filling)

1 lb of gound beef

1 irish potato

2 carrots

1 onion

Seasonings

Chicken broth cubes

(dough)

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup water

1 cup of butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees
2. Dice your veggies
3. Brown the vegetables, including potatoes, and ground beef with seasoning.
4. Add flour and water GRADUALLY.
5. In a separate bowl, mix dry dough ingredients.
6. Add the butter and GRADUALLY add water.
7. Once the dough is prepared, wrap it in plastic wrap to refrigerate for 10-15 mins.
8. Roll the dough out, use a lid, bowl, or if you’re fancy cookie cutter for the circles.
9. Fill each circle about 1/3 of the pie crust.
10. Use a fork head to close the pie crust.
11. Spray the pan with non-stick spray or in my case, rub some olive oil on your fingers.
12. Pop those suckers in the over for 35-40 mins.

Thanks to the owner of sisijemiah.com for such an easy recipe to follow and implement.