Happy Thanksgiving and my Meat Pie Recipe

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone, especially those in America. I made some Meat Pie yesterday for Dinner and I want to share the recipe with you this thanksgiving.

Ingredients

*Dough - Plain Flour – 1 Kg, Margarine – 500g, Salt – 2 pinches, Dry spices - 2 pinches, Cold Water - a quarter cup

*Filling - 500g of minced meat, 1 medium-sized onion, 2 medium-sized tomatoes, Seasoning - 2 Maggi / Knorr cubes and 1 teaspoon of mixed spices, Cold water – 1 cup

*1 egg yolk

Tools

Rolling Pin, A Flat surface, Measuring circle – You can use a saucer, pot or dish cover, and cut with a knife. I used the cover of my "I can't believe it's not Butter" jar to cut the dough and it gave me 8 meat pies with the above ingredients. Table Fork – To press the edges of the meat pie after adding the filling.

Directions 

- For the Filling

Wash and slice the onions.
With your cooker or stove set to medium heat, heat the vegetable oil in a pot, add the diced onions and stir for a bit, add the minced meat and stir for about ten minutes.
Add 1 cup of water and the seasoning. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 mins
Add salt to taste, stir the contents and turn off the heat.
Set the meat pie filling aside, preferably in the fridge or somewhere cool.

- For the dough

Put the flour in a sizeable bowl
Use a tablespoon to scoop the margarine in small bits into the bowl of flour. The smaller you make the bits of margarine, the easier it will be for you to rub them into the flour.
Use finger tips to rub the margarine into the flour till the mix becomes like bread crumbs.
Add a pinch of salt at this stage and any dry spices you feel like - I used Lion brand mixed spices
Now, add cold water in bits while at the same time kneading the mix till you have a stiff ball of dough. I only needed like one inch of water in a tall drinking glass.

Rub margarine on the insides of the oven tray and set aside.
Break the egg, separate the yolk and whisk, then set it aside.

Set your oven to 350 (For browner meat pie set to 400 in the last 5 minutes) and leave to preheat while you continue with the meat pie dough.

- For Rolling the Dough

Place the dough on a flat surface, and roll it out. If it sticks to the surface, spread dry flour first.

Use the cutter to make round cuts on the rolled out dough.

Remove the excess dough, leaving behind the round cuts.
Scoop some meat pie filling into the center of the round cuts, the quantity should be such that you can comfortably close the dough without overflows.
Rub the egg yolk on the inside edge of the cut dough. This ensures that the meat pie is sealed and does not open up while baking.
Fold one part of the dough to meet the other end and use a fork to press the 2 edges together to close tightly.
Place in the oven tray and repeat the previous step till all the dough is used.
Rub the remaining egg yolk over the top of the meat pies. This gives the meat pie a golden brown look when done. Prick the top of the filled dough with the fork tines for a better look :)

- Baking

Set the tray in the preheated oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. You can confirm that the meat pie is done when it starts browning. It is alright to open the oven to check this.

Adapted from my favorite recipe site - ALL NIGERIAN RECIPES