Allspice Porch · Starters

Flaky Curried Beef Hand Pies

Name: Flaky Curried Beef Hand Pies
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 280 g All-purpose flour; 140 g Butter; 90 ml Water; 1.25 tsp Salt; 1 whole Egg; 400 g Ground beef; 1 whole Onion; 2 clove Garlic; 200 g Potatoes; 6 g Fresh thyme; 1 tbsp Caribbean curry powder; 0.5 tsp Ground allspice; 1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper; 1 tbsp Tomato paste; 0.5 tsp Black pepper; 2 whole Green onions

A butter pastry folded around curried ground beef and potato, baked until the crust is flaky and the filling is still safely hot. A porch snack, not a copy of any shop pie.

80 minutes · Medium · 4 servings

Original house recipe · Not yet kitchen-tested

Ingredients

All-purpose flour280 g
Butter140 g
Water90 ml
Salt1.25 tsp
Egg1 whole
Ground beef400 g
Onion1 whole
Garlic2 clove
Potatoes200 g
Fresh thyme6 g
Caribbean curry powder1 tbsp
Ground allspice0.5 tsp
Scotch bonnet pepper1 whole
Tomato paste1 tbsp
Black pepper0.5 tsp
Green onions2 whole

Quantities describe recipe usage, not package sizes.

Allergen notes

Wheat (flour), egg, and milk (butter).

Method

Make the pastry

Cut the cold butter into 1 cm cubes. Stir 280 g flour with 0.5 tsp of the salt, then rub in the butter until the mix looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces left. Sprinkle in the water and bring it together with a fork into a shaggy dough. Shape a disc, wrap it and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Wash your hands.

Cook the filling to 71°C

Dice the onion, potato and green onions. Mince the garlic. Stem, seed and mince the scotch bonnet, wearing gloves. Heat a wide skillet over medium heat and cook the beef, breaking it up, until it is browned. Health Canada’s safe internal temperature for ground beef is 71°C (160°F): check the centre of the largest crumb and keep cooking if it is below that. There should be no pink. Spoon off the excess fat, leaving about 1 tbsp. Add the onion, potato, garlic, thyme leaves, curry powder, allspice, scotch bonnet, tomato paste, black pepper and the remaining 0.75 tsp salt. Cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring, until the potato is tender and the pan is almost dry. Taste, then spread the filling on a plate to cool. Wash the board and anything that touched raw beef.

Fill the pies

Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Line a tray. Roll the pastry to about 3 mm thick and cut eight 12 cm rounds, rerolling the scraps once. Beat the egg. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of cooled filling onto each round, brush the rim with egg, fold into a half-moon and press the edge with a fork. Cut a small vent in the top. Brush the tops with the remaining egg.

Bake

Bake for 22–28 minutes, until the crust is deep golden. Check the centre of a pie with a thermometer: the filling must still read at least 71°C (160°F). Rest 5 minutes before serving. The egg wash is cooked when the crust is deep gold and dry, not sticky.

Cool the filling before it meets the pastry, or the butter melts and the pies leak. Ground beef is safe at 71°C in the pan and must still be at least 71°C when the pies come out.

AI-generated food image. Presentation is illustrative. This menu belongs to an imagined restaurant.