In this article, we will go through the basic recipes for Nigerian meat pie dough. Meat pie is a popular snack because it is tasty and moist as well as filling. If you haven’t tasted the Nigerian meat pie you must try this recipe, they are the ultimate comfort food.
One thing about pastry or recipes is that we all have one thing or the other that might be different from what someone else did but in all, we all want to arrive at the final result. If you want to make a Nigerian meat dough, you have to make the filling first which must be set aside.
Here is a recipe below for making Nigerian meat pie and this recipe should make 8-9 sizes of meat pie.
For the Filling, you will be needing the ingredients below;
1 big Irish potatoes
1 carrot
1 onion
Vegetable oil
Salt
Seasoning cube
Minced meat
2 tablespoon flour
For the dough, which is actually the main discussion
500g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
250g baking butter
Pinch of salt
Egg
¼ cup of water
In Nigeria, you should cook the minced meat until it is tender and not overcooked. If you want the crust to be flaky and soft, you can add extra vegetables and herbs to the mix. You can even make your own filling by blending curry powder and paste and adding it to the mince.
The first step in making this pie dough is preparing the filling. In Nigeria, minced meat is stir-fried with garlic and onions until it loses its pink color. Once the meat is cooked, you should add the minced meat to the dough and stir it again. Now, the mixture will be ready to fill the pastry. You can either leave the filling or add it later.
Dough Method
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together then sift to get rid of clumps, after mixing the dry ingredients then add the baking butter, mix the margarine with the flour till you get a bread crumb like consistency, create a little hole in the mixture, add the water gradually, be careful not to pour it all at once, you may not need it all.
Work and knead the dough till you get a thick and nonsticky dough. Now wrap it up in cling film and leave it in a fridge for about 1/2 an hour. While you’re waiting on the dough to cool off a bit, break an egg into a small plate, whisk and set aside.
After half an hour, take out the dough and place it on a flat surface. You’ll notice the consistency of the dough has improved and is more manageable. Now knead for a bit, be careful not to over-knead. Now cut the dough into smaller pieces and roll.
Get yourself a dough cutter cut-out circle. The size of the circle will depend on your intended pie size. Now scoop up 1-2 tablespoons of filling into the middle of the cutout dough; making sure there’s enough room to seal it up and repeat for till you exhaust the filling and dough. Then rub the egg on the meat pies. This gives the meat pie a golden brown look when done. Place the tray of the meat pie in a preheated oven and bake for 30 to 40 mins.
To make a Nigerian meat pie, you can use any method you prefer.
Cynthia resides in Nigeria and he his an expert on all Nigerian topics. His interests includes but not limited to Technology News and Nigerian Musics. He has interviewed and studied several musician in Nigeria.