West African Meat Pies/patties

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 small potatoes, diced and cooked
• 1/2 lb lean ground beef (i use extra lean)
• 1/4 cup frozen mixed vegetables, cooked (i use the peas, carrots and corn mix)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 cup mixed red and green sweet pepper, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 beef bouillon cube, cube
• 1/2 cup butter, chilled, (for flakier crust use 1/4 cup chilled lard, and 1/4 cup chilled butter)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 -6 tablespoons ice water
• 1 egg, beaten (for brushing exterior of meat pies)

Recipe

• 1 mix all spices, diced bell peppers and diced onion, with ground meat thoroughly, and brown the meat in 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a skillet until meat is cooked (about 10 minutes).
• 2 once ground beef is cooked, add the diced cooked potatoes and heat for 5 minutes.
• 3 taste meat mixture and adjust amount of spices according to taste.
• 4 to make dough: sift together dry ingredients and cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.
• 5 while mixing with a wooden spoon, add water a tablespoon at a time until dough holds together in a ball(you may need more or less water than stated depending on humidity of your flour)
• 6 (if the dough crumbles, add a little more water by drops until the particles adhere).
• 7 when dough comes together into a ball, lightly flour your work surface (counter top or cutting board) and roll out the dough until 1/8 inch thick.
• 8 cut out 6-8 inch circles (while working with dough, if dough becomes sticky or too soft put in refridgerator for 10 minutes to cool).
• 9 place two teaspoons of meat stuffing in ceter of pastry cut outs.
• 10 moisten the edges of the dough with water and fold the top half of the dough circle over the filling (into a half circle) and pinch edges together with a fork to seal.
• 11 once all patties are formed, lightly brush the tops with beaten egg.
• 12 bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown.