Ingredients:
Serves 4
For the lamb filling:
450g Lamb neck fillet, boneless and cut into 2cm pieces.
400g of tinned chick peas, drained
1 Onion, sliced
2 Cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
1 tsp Ground cumin
0.5 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Ground coriander
0.25 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Ginger Paste
100ml Passata
200ml Water
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
For the Pastry:
250g Butter, diced and chilled
500g Plain flour
10g Table salt
60g Ice cold water
2 Eggs, beaten plus one egg yolk for glazing.
(This will make more pastry than required but the excess can be frozen for other pie projects)
For the Chutney:
4 Limes, remove the skin and dice into 8 pieces.
3 tblsp chopped coriander
1 Onion, Finely diced
1 Cooking apple, peeled and diced into 2cm pieces
50ml Rice wine vinegar
100g Caster sugar
100ml Water
Salt and pepper
To Serve:
Yogurt and chopped mint
Method:
For the filling:
- The filling and pastry is best prepared the day before.
- Add a little oil to a heavy based saucepan and heat. Fry the onions on a medium heat until brown and soft, stirring constantly.
- Add the mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric, coriander, chilli, garlic and ginger paste along with the lamb. Continue to fry for 5 minutes on a low heat, stirring constantly.
- Add the water, chick peas and passata and season with salt and pepper, place a lid on the pan. Cook on a low heat for 1 hour or until the lamb is tender.
- Remove the filling from the pan and allow to cool before refrigerating.
For the Pastry:
- In a small bowl beat the whole eggs with the water and place in the freezer whilst the other ingredients are prepared.
- In a larger bowl place the butter, flour and salt and rub together until almost incorporated but some small lumps (1-2mm) of butter are still visible.
- Add the ice cold egg and water mix and work together until a rough dough is formed. Remove from the bowl and knead a couple of times but try not to overwork the dough, even if it looks a little rough this will add to the flakiness.
- Split the dough into two even pieces, clingfilm and place in fridge for 1 hour.
- Lightly butter 4 110mm pie cases.
- Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface to slightly thicker than a one pound coin.
- Cut circles from the pastry big enough to over hang the pie cases by 1 cm and line the insides of the cases.
- Cut 4 circles the same size as the tops of the pie cases.
- Place the lined cases and the tops in the fridge for half an hour or overnight if making the day before.
For the chutney:
- In a small saucepan place the apple chunks and water, heat with a lid on until the apple is soft. Remove fro the heat and roughly crush the apple with a fork, set aside.
- Heat a frying pan and add a little oil, fry the onions until soft.
- Add the rice wine vinegar and sugar and bring to the boil for 30 seconds.
- Add the apple and limes and simmer until the liquid has thickened with the sugar.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool, stir the coriander in before serving.
To Finish the pies:
- Pre-heat an oven to 180 degrees C ( 350 degrees F) gas mark 4
- Fill the pastry cases with the lamb filling to the top of the pie cases.
- Place the lids on top of the mix and crimp the over hanging pastry inwards, sealing the pies.
- Make a small hole in the centre of top with the tip of a knife.
- Mix the egg yolk with a splash of water and brush over the top of the pies, place in the fridge and leave for 15 minutes before brushing with another coat of egg yolk.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is browned and the filling is bubblig through the hole and red hot throughout.
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