Nigerian Meatpies

I don’t remember when my story of making meat-pies began..

but an early memory that comes to mind, is the first time I sold a batch of meat-pies.

I grew up in the Northern part of Nigeria, in a town called Kano, and my mom owned a school right in the city. Her school had a kiosk that kids would rush to at break time to buy a variety of Nigerian snacks such as puff-puff, buns, meat pies, biscuits, soft drinks etc. (the good ol’ days!)

I must have been around thirteen and I was just discovering my love for cooking. I don’t remember what drew me to it, but I remember having a recipe diary, where I would write down my favourite recipes as I watched others cook or as I cooked myself. One of my earliest memories of cooking involved making meatpies for my mother’s school’s kiosk and it all started as a trial run.

I was probably making way too many meat pies at home, enough to feed a village and my mother suggested we begin selling them at her school. To my surprise, the kids loved it, and the meat pies would always sell out! Thus it became a staple at the kiosk.

I modified the standard recipe too. Instead of using salt in the crust, I opted for some sugar. Before I knew it, I was making batches of meat pies every evening to be sold the following day, and enjoying every bit of it!

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Yield: This depends on the size of the cutter you use. If your cutter is 10 inches in diameter, you'll make about 10 meat pies.

Prep/cook time: 1 hr

Bake time: 40 - 45 mins

Total time: 1 hr 45 mins

Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 7 cups of all purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons of baking powder

• 4 cups of butter (margarine)

• I tablespoon of sugar (or 2 pinches of salt)

• 1/2 cup of cold water

For the Meat Filling:

• 2 medium Irish potatoes (optional)

• 1/2 a cup of vegetables (optional)

• 4 cups of ground beef (minced meat)

• 1 medium-sized onion

• 2 cooking spoons of coconut oil (or vegetable, canola, olive oil)

• 2 maggi/knorr cubes (or to taste)

• 1 teaspoon of thyme

• 1 teaspoon of pepper

• 1 teaspoon of curry

• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (or 1 teaspoon of minced garlic)

• 1 teaspoon of ginger (or 1 teaspoon of minced ginger)

• 1 teaspoon of crayfish (optional)

• 1 atarodo (scotch bonnet)

• salt (to taste)

• 2 teaspoons of all-purpose flour

• 1 cup of water

For the Glaze:

• 1 Egg

Steps

For the Meat pie Filling:

• Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut it into tiny cubes.

• Slice the onions

• On medium heat, heat your cooking oil in a pot, and stir in the diced onions.

• Stir in the ground beef vigorously until it turns pale

• Add all of the seasoning, and stir

• Add one cup of water

• Cover the pot and once the contents start boiling add in frozen mixed veggies (optional), and potatoes (optional) and cook until it is all done

• Mix the tablespoons of flour in half a cup of cold water and add to the meat pie filling. This is to ensure that the filling does not dry up during baking.

• Stir the contents and turn off the heat.

For the Meat-Pie Dough:

• Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of baking powder and the sugar (or salt). Mix well!

• Use a tablespoon to put the margarine into the bowl of flour.

• Using your fingertips, rub the margarine into the flour, till it looks like crumbs. Do not use melted butter!

• Add cold water in little amounts, while folding the mix until it turns into a ball of dough is formed

• Knead the dough well, and leave it to rest for 5 minutes, this makes it more elastic.

Cutting the Dough:

• Set your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and leave it to preheat.

• Rub some of your margarine on the insides of your oven tray and set aside.

• Break your egg, whisk it, and set aside

• Knead the dough until it's quite thin (not too thin)

• Use a cutter (this could be a bowl turned upside down, or a teacup turned upside down and cut around it), to make round cuts on the rolled-out dough

• Put some meat pie filling into the centre of the cuts

• Rub the edges of the meat pie cut with eggs, before folding it. This ensures the meat pie is sealed and doesn't open up during baking.

• Fold one part of the dough to meet the other, and use a fork to press the edges together to close tightly

• Rub the egg of the meat pies using a cooking brush (or you could use your hands too if you do not have a cooking brush). This gives the meat pie a golden brown look when done.

Baking:

• Set the meat pies on the tray, and place the tray in the preheated oven, allowing it to bake for 30-40 minutes. Once it starts browning, you know it's almost done. Remove when it’s golden brown.

Et voila, you’re done. Serve on a lovely plate that brings you joy.