NIGERIAN MEAT PIE

The best meat pie recipes are moist and delicious filled with minced meat, carrots and potatoes seasoned to perfection to give it the unique Nigerian meat pie taste. This snack is popular in most fast food restaurants in Nigeria.
For this recipe the number of pies you would get depends on the thickness of the rolled out dough and the diameter of the meat pie cutter. I made a total of eight meat pies, five large ones and three medium ones

Ingredients

For the dough

• 1kg Plain Flour
• 2tsp Baking Powder
• 500g Margarine
• 1/2cup Water
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 Egg

For The Filling

• 2 Medium Sized Potatoes
• 4 Baby Carrots
• 500g Minced Meat
• 1 Medium Sized Onion
• 2tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 2 Seasoning Cubes
• 1tsp Thyme
• 2tsp Plain Flour
• 1cup Cold Water
• Salt to Taste
• Pepper to Taste

How to prepare:
-Peel, wash and dice carrots, potatoes and onions.

- Heat vegetable oil in a pot add diced onions and fry till translucent.

-Add minced meat then leave without stirring for a couple of minutes, this is important so as to brown the meat. Once meat is brown, add ½ cup of water and leave to properly cook minced meat for about five minutes.

-Add seasoning cubes and thyme and cover for a couple more minutes till the mixture starts boiling.

-Add diced carrots and potatoes, I had some extra sweet corn laying around which I added also, and cook till vegetables are well done. Dissolve plain flour in remaining ½ cup of water and add to the filling, this helps hold the mixture together and also keeps the filling moist.

-Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside to cool completely.

-On to making the dough, in a bowl place the flour baking powder and salt and mix well.

-Cut the margarine into cubes and place into the flour and using fingers rub margarine into flour until the mixture becomes like breadcrumbs.

- Slowly add cold water while folding the mixture till stiff dough is formed. Knead the dough and leave to rest for a 6-7 minutes.

-Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C (335 F). Break an egg, beat it and set aside.

-I got this meat pie maker a while back from Nigeria which makes it much easier to make meat pies.

-However it is not compulsory to use this, meat pie can easily be made using any circular object e.g. a bowl or a large round cookie cutter and a fork. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to desired thickness (I did about 5mm).

-Using  a bowl make round cuts and remove the excess dough.

-Scoop meat pie filling unto center of the round dough cut making sure not to over fill.

-Using a pastry brush or clean hands rub egg wash on the inside edge of the dough, this ensures the meat pie is perfectly sealed and does not open while in the oven.

-Fold one part of the dough to meet the other creating the classic half moon meat pie shape.

-Using a fork, press the two edges together to close tightly, if the fork begins to stick to the dough, rub a little flour on it.

-Place on a greased oven tray till all the dough is exhausted. Rub egg wash on the tops of the meat pies to give the golden brown look.

-Place tray in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes. The meat pie is done once it start browning. You would want to remove the meat pies once they are ready and leave to cool slightly before eating so as not to burn your tongue on the hot filling.

I made these for my family and they came out really nice and tasty, unfortunately I was not able to take pictures of the final result because I left them to cool for a couple of minutes and when I got back they were already finished.

NIGERIAN CHIN-CHIN

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup all purpose flour 
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp softened butter 
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 teaspoon flavourings of choice (I used nutmeg)
• 4-6 cups Oil for frying

How to prepare:
-Sift flour, baking powder and nutmeg, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well.

                        

-Add softened butter into the flour, using fingers to work it in, till it is mixed properly with a breadcrumb like consistency.

                          

                          

-Make a well in the middle of flour/butter mixture and add egg.

                           

                                      

-Use fingers to mix egg with flour till it comes together in a dough. This may take a while but it will surely get there.

                           

-Using a rolling pin and a cutting board (or a flat surface) roll out dough to about an inch thick, roll dough only once do not stress and re-roll, and cut into desired shapes. I cut mine vertically then horizontally into cubes.

                             

-Place a pan over medium heat, add oil to deep fry chin-chin. I test the temperature of the oil by dropping a small piece of dough.

                               

-Fry chin-chin stirring continuously till the chin-chin turns a golden brown colour. I fried in two batches to avoid over-crowding.

                                 

-Remove chin-chin from oil and place on a paper towel to drain excess oil and leave to cool down.

                                   

-Chin-chin can be stored in a dry airtight container and kept for up to a week or two.

                            

For a healthier option instead of frying.

-Preheat oven and lay some wax paper on a baking tray.-Place chin-chin dough on the wax paper and bake for about 25 minutes checking frequently to avoid burning.

NOTE: I made this again but instead of using nutmeg, I used 1 tsp of cinnamon and after frying I rolled my chin-chin in cinnamon sugar. It was truly delightful.

                   

                   

SUNDAY LUNCH

This is my take on the traditional coconut rice. I usually make use of golden basmati rice but that was not available so I made use of easy cook long grain rice but the results are just as nice.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup easy cook rice
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 onion
• 1 Habanero pepper
• 1 chilli pepper
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 seasoning cubes ( I used knorr cubes)
• Sweetcorn
• Sliced bell peppers
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Water

How to prepare:
-Place a large pot over high heat add rice and enough water to completely cover rice. Parboil rice for 4 to 5 minutes, remove from fire, wash and drain rice and set aside.

                                   

-Dice peppers and onions according to preference ( I diced mine finely, be careful when handling habanero pepper).

                                    

-Place a different bowl over medium heat, add olive oil heat for a few minutes.

-To the oil add onions, minced ginger, minced garlic and peppers. Stir fry.

                                     

-Add coconut milk, seasoning cubes and thyme.

                                      

-Leave coconut milk mixture covered until it begins to boil.

                                       

-Add parboiled rice to coconut milk and mix properly completely covering rice with coconut milk ( you can adjust for salt and pepper at this point).

                                         

-Cover rice and reduce heat. leave for rice to get ready this would take about 15 to 20 minutes.

-Add sweetcorn and sliced bell peppers (you can use any vegetables of your choice). I diced some left over chicken breast which had already been cooked and added to the rice.

-Mix and leave to steam together for 5 minutes.

                                             

-Remove from fire. Serve and enjoy. I served this with pieces of peppered chicken

NIGERIAN BEEF SAMOSA

Ok so I know this is not the traditional dough used to make samosa, but I had extra wrappers remaining and decided to make samosa and I find this is a much easier (no need to go through the hassle of making the dough from scratch)

Ingredients

• 2 Medium Irish Potatoes
• 4 Carrots
• 100g Minced Meat
• 3 Spring Onions
• 1 tsp All Purpose Seasoning
• 1/2 cup Green Peas
• 1/4 Cabbage
• Vegetable oil
• 1 Stock Cube
• 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (optional)
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1 tsp Garlic
• Spring Roll Pastry
• 1 tsp Flour
• 2 tsp Water

How to prepare:
- Wash, clean and peel cabbage, carrots, spring onions and potatoes. Dice potatoes and spring onions and grate carrots and cabbage finely. Boil the potatoes until soft if using fresh peas boil them also.

- Heat up a little oil in a deep frying pan add spring onions grated garlic and ginger fry for a few minutes, add the minced meat stock cubes, cayenne pepper and all purpose seasoning and fry until meat is ready.

- Add peas, carrot, cabbage and potatoes to minced meat, mix properly and set aside to cool completely.

- To wrap the samosa create a "binder" by mixing flour and water to a smooth paste, cut the pastry diagonally (each sheet  makes two samosa). Fold into a cone like shape, fill pocket created with the samosa filling spread a little of the binder over the opening and press together to seal tightly.

-Fry in the same way as spring roll and enjoy.

NIGERIAN PUFF-PUFF

This is a snack that is enjoyed through out Nigeria, usually as finger food or "small chops" at weddings or parties.

Ingredients

• 1  1/4 cups flour
• 1  tsp quick rise yeast 
• 1/2 cup sugar (adjust down for preference)
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• Vegetable oil 

How to prepare:

-In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar, salt, yeast and nutmeg then combine with a whisk until thoroughly combined.

-Slowly combine lukewarm water and mix by hand, it should be a smooth mixture free from lumps (using lukewarm water allows yeast to rise faster.

-Cover with aluminum foil or table cloth (make sure it is air tight) and set aside in a lukewarm place for 45 minutes to 1 hr for yeast to rise and mixture double in size and has some air bubbles.

-Set a large deep frying pan on medium heat and add oil. (oil should b 2-3 inches deep so puff puff balls become spherical and don't end up flat).

-Test the oil to see if it is hot enough by  putting a drop of batter into the oil, if it sizzles up immediatly then it is hot enough.

-Once the oil is hot scoop the mixture with hands by or  ice cream scoop and drop into the oil, try not to crowd the pan.

-Fry until the underside is golden (usually 2-3 minutes) then flip to fry top side as well.

- When bot sides are golden brown, take puffpuff balls out of the frying pan with a slotted spoon and place in a sieve lined with paper towels (the paper towels help soak away excess oil).

NIGERIAN BEEF STEW

This stew combines a mix of tomatoes, peppers and onions. It is easily prepared and comes in handy because it can be prepared in advance, frozen and used Nigerian for a variety of meals such as plain rice dishes, African soups, boiled yam e.t.c. Once the stew is boiled a variety of cooked meat is usually added such as turkey, beef, chicken, goat meat, cow stomach, just some examples of what can be added to the stew. In this instance I only added beef but be free to add different varieties as you prefer.

Ingredients

• 10 - 15 fresh tomatoes
• 3 onion bulbs
• 10 -15 Fresno chili peppers
• 3 garlic cloves (optional)
• Ginger (optional)
• 500g beef
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 stock cube
• 1tbsp curry
• 1tbsp thyme
• Salt to taste
• Water

How to prepare
-Clean and cut meat into small bite sized prices. Place in a pot add thyme, curry, one stock cube, salt to taste and enough water to just cover meat and cook meat until well done (about 45 minutes). Set aside and reserve beef stock.

-Peel two of three onions and cut into wedges and remove stems from and Fresno peppers (some people prefer to add red bell peppers because they have less heat).

-Place peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger in a blender. Add as little water as possible (just enough to help with the blending).

-Blend tomatoes, onions and peppers until completely smooth and free from all lumps.

-Once completely blended, pour tomato purée into a pot and bring to a boil.

-Boil tomato puree until it thickens in consistency, the colour deepens and the excess water added during the blending process dries up.

-Dice remaining onion.

-In a different pot heat up vegetable oil, add onions and fry till onions are translucent.

-Add boiled tomato purée and fry for about 25 - 30 minutes or until tomatoes loose its sour taste (stirring constantly to prevent burning at the bottom).

-Add beef stock and cook for further 10 minutes.

-Add boiled beef, stock cube and salt to taste. Cover and leave to simmer on low heat for 5 more minutes.

-Serve with the main dish and enjoy.