All The Wyld Things: Beef Mince Curry Pie

Friday, February 12, 2010

Beef Mince Curry Pie

With my due date coming up in 13 days (read-24th Feb), I've decided that my freezer needs more fast and easy meals for when I'm too exhausted to cook. I recently used a gift card for David Jones given as a wedding present to get a Sunbeam Magic 4-up PieMaker.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="My new toy!"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="She makes 4 pies at once on a non-stick surface."]

[/caption]

Isn't she pretty?

Anyways, here's a post on how I made a Beef Mince Curry Pie.

These were the ingredients that I used.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Puff pastry, short crust pastry, carrots, an onion, potatoes, beef mince, worcestershire sauce, flour, mixed herbs, salt and pepper"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Curry Powder too!"]

[/caption]

First, the onion.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption=" Cut in half. And peel."]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Make several incisions 1 cm from the top end downwards."]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Turn 90 degress and slice thinly."]

[/caption]

Makes a very fine and neat dice.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="I peel all the carrots and potatoes"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Cut the potato 4-5 times lengthwise."]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Take half of the slices, lay them flat, and slice lengthwise again in 1 cm widths"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Turn 90 degress and cut into 1 cm widths into neat dices."]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Slice the carrots lenghwise into 1 cm widths"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Turn 90 degrees and cut into 1 cm widths"]

[/caption]

Put both the diced carrots and potatoes into a microwaveable bowl and microwave on high for 10-15 minutes till soft.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Potatoes and carrots in a bowl to be microwaved."]

[/caption]

Or you can boil in a pot of water till soft. Set aside.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Heat up some oil"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Throw in the onions"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Add 2 big tablespoons of sugar"]

[/caption]

Stir the onions till translucent.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Beef mince"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Add salt, pepper and mixed herbs to the beef mince"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Add curry powder"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Stir"]

[/caption]

I added about 3 heaping tablespoons of curry. This dries the meat up for browning in hot oil. If the meat was wet, it would not brown properly, but would stew instead.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Add the meat to the hot oil. The onions would have been nicely caramelised by now."]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Brown the mince on one side, then turn over."]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Add half cup of Worcestershire sauce."]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Add the microwaved carrots and potatoes"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Add a cup of water. I used the mixing bowl which had curry in it-which is why the water looks like stock"]

[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of flour and stir."]

[/caption]

I repeated the last two steps twice. You want to get a thick gravy-like consistency. If it gets too thick, add more water and keep stirring to keep the bottom from being burned. Also, taste and adjust. I added more salt, sugar and curry powder at this point.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="It's ready to be dished into pies!"]

[/caption]

The next steps involve pastry and the piemaker.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="My pastry cutter which came with the Sunbeam Piemaker"]

[/caption]

I used the pastry maker to cut out the bottom of the pie. Here I use short crust pastry for the bottom, and puff pastry for the top.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="The pastry cutter cuts the pastry into this shape. I fold the little cuts on the edges to form a little cup."]