Cold baking Butter - 350g ( about 3 sticks or 1½ cups)
1 egg (for batter)
1 cup cold water(eye ball)
1 egg (for finishing)
⅛ tsp nut meg
for filling
lb ground beef (any ground or shredded meat of your choice)
one chopped red or green bell pepper
One chili pepper
1 tsp Cameroon or powdered chili
Thyme
Curry
a handful of diced onions
2 fingers of carrots(diced)
⅓ cup of diced carrots
2 large potatoes or 6 tiny ones.(dice and boil until aldente)
3 tbsps of flour mixed with warm water
1tbsp of cooking oil
1cup meat stock or water
1bouillon cube
Instructions
For the dough:
For the crust:
Sift flour and mix all your dry ingredients. Add butter until the butter has combined well with the flour and looks kind of grainy. Add the egg. The dry mix will also have a kind of an off white color. In little increments, pour in water and gently knead flour together until it forms a soft dough(Do not knead for too long and eye ball the liquids in order not to use too much). The dough should have a little stretchy feel once it has formed. Wrap it in a cling wrap or grocery bag and refrigerate for the dough to rest. (The longer your dough rests in the refrigerator, the better the crust)
for the filling
Dice your peppers and onions. (Removing all the seeds from the peppers). In a sauce pan sauté the ground beef until it goes from pink to a light brown color. Drain off any excess oil and set aside. In 1tbsp of cooking oil, add the vegetables and powdered chili except the potatoes and sauté for about 2 minutes.(after the mean goes from pink to brown, you may skip the step of draining out the oil and just add your peppers, onion and veggies. This preserves the flavor). Pour the meat into the vegetable mix. Season with salt, curry, thyme. Check for seasonings and add your meat stock or water in little increments until the liquid is at the same level as the mix. Then add in your potatoes. Check for seasoning again and add some bouillon if needed. Cover and reduce heat and let cook for about 5-10 minutes. Check to make sure the potatoes have softened. Check once again for seasonings; stir in flour and water mix in little increments to get the mix to your desired thickness, set aside and work on your dough/crust. Break the eggs into a bowl, whisk and set aside. Then pre heat oven to 325 degrees
Sprinkle some flour onto a clean and flat work top. Cut out some of the formed dough with your hands and roll with a rolling pin until flat. With a mini round pie cutter, cut out the shape you desire. With a brush or finger tips rub some water on the edge of the cut out dough that faces you. Then generously pile the filling onto the dough circle. Cover the dough carefully and score the edges carefully with a fork or your thumb; then place it onto a non stick baking sheet(if you don't have a nonstick baking sheet, use any baking sheet that has been slightly oiled or buttered. You may even use some foil wrappers to line your pan. Lightly rub the egg wash on each pie and bake for about 30-40minutes or until cooked through and golden brown (I sometimes use a lower temperature between 250 and 275 for about 40minutes or until cooked and golden brown) Once cooked, let the pies rest before serving. It can be used as a starter or a snack
Notes: !Make sure you work with the cold dough as fast as you can, so that it is still fairly cold by the time you put the pies in the oven.
I also used butter for this recipe. If you cannot find a good pastry butter; then margarine works fine.
for sealing, use a mix of water and flour. This helps to seal the pie.
Recipe by Nigerian Lazy Chef at https://www.nigerianlazychef.com/2018/03/whole-wheat-mini-pies-hollow-without-these/