The Infamous Nigerian Meat-Pie...Part 1

 Hi Guyss!!

Happy New Year!!

A big welcome to 2016. I know its long over due for new recipes, but I had some very important deadlines over the holidays, and I just didn't have the time to post anything. Thankfully thats all settled now, so I'm definitely going to try my best to bring you more exciting and delicious recipes this year. Trust me, its all part of my 2016 New Year resolutions. Im going to try to get the blog posts up on time, and hopefully every sunday. I believe having a schedule would certainly make things easier.

A few days ago, a friend of mine invited me to a church programme hosted by a Nigerian family here in Sheffield. She told me it was more like a prayer session/ get together, and everyone was encouraged to bring something to share with the group. 

Funny thing is...I didn't know the family, but as a Nigerian now, we tend to follow our friends to parties and get-togethers, even when we weren't invited. Or in my case, my friends friend invited me :-).  So anyway, I wasn't sure what I wanted to bring along, but I wanted it to be something that didn't require too much time to prepare, everyone could enjoy, and could be packed up nicely to take away. 

So I knew it was definitely going to be a snack. Now, I wasn't sure what snack yet, but when I looked in my pantry, and saw the flour, carrots, potatoes and the pack of minced meat in my fridge (I was saving for my bolognese sauce), it was like a sign from the gods.

Now, you've got to remember that there are two parts to making this snack, just as the name suggests, one parts the 'Meat' and the others the 'Pie'. To prevent this post from being too long, I've decided to divide the meat-pie recipe and instructions into two parts. 

So for the meat filling, you'll need:

• 2 Carrots (peeled and diced into cubes)
• An onion (diced)
• 200g-300g of minced meat
• 3 table spoons of oil
• 4 potato tubers (peeled and diced into cubes)
• 1 Tbsp of salt (because potatoes absorb a lot of salt)
• 1 Stock cube (maggi or Knorr or OXO)
• 1 Cup of water
• 1teaspoon of thyme, oregano, rosemary and chilli powder
• 2tbsp vegetable oil 

• Thickening slurry: 1 teaspoon of corn flour/ all purpose flour +1 Tbsp of water

Instructions

1. Place the oil into the pot, and allow it to get hot (not burnt). Then add the diced onions and sauté till it becomes tender and translucent. This should take about 30 seconds if the oil was hot enough.
2. Place the meat into the pot with the onions, and allow it to cook for about 3-4 minutes or until all the red is gone and the meat has started producing its own juices.
3. Now add the diced carrots and potatoes, stir, and cover. Leave it for about 1 minute.
4. Time to season! First pour in the cup of water, then add the salt, stock cubes and herbs (thyme, oregano and chilli). Allow it to cook for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes and carrot are tender (this shouldn't take too long if they were diced small enough). Always season to your preferred taste!!
5. Now, you'll have to make a slurry of cornflour and water and add this to the pot. This would act as the thickening agent. Continue to stir the pot, to prevent it from burning, and once its thick enough, turn off the heat and allow it to cool.

   

   Meat filling without the thickening slurry

   

   Meat filling with the thickening slurry and allowed to cool

   We'll discuss the pie casing on the next post.