I’d rather liked the picture of these chilli pies in the The Hairy Bikers’ Perfect Pies cookbook, when it mentioned they are good hot or cold I wondered whether they might be suitable for packed lunches.
The chilli is easy to make and you could use any chilli recipe. The addition of a little polenta was a good idea to absorb some of the sauce. Instructions were nice and straightforward. I made the chilli and pastry one day and rolled out the pastry and made the pies the next. The pastry was a bit fiddly and a tendency to tear so I was a bit mean with the filling and had quite a bit left. I suspect practice would make it much easier to handle. I was pleased with how my little pie bundles looked before they went into the oven.
I will definitely be making these again, and would probably increase the quantity of pastry until I get better at handling it. They were delicious both hot and cold and I think they stay together well enough to be put into a lunch box.
Ingredients
- 500g lean minced beef
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 heaped tsp smoked paprika
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 100ml red wine
- 300ml of beef stock
- 40g pickled green Jalapeños, sliced
- 2 tbsp quick cook polenta
- 3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
- salt
- pepper
- 100g plain flour
- 200g quick cook polenta
- 150g cold butter, cut into cubes
- 75ml just boiled water
- 50g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 1 egg beaten.
Instructions
- Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan and fry the onion for 5 minutes, adding the garlic for the final minute. add the mince to the pan, breaking up any big chunks with a wooden spoon. Fry over a medium heat for 5 mins stirring regularly.
- Sprinkle with Paprika and cook for a further minute.
- Tip the tomatoes, red wine, stock and Jalapeños to the pan, stir well, season with salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer for 25minutes, add 2 tablespoons of polenta and stir until the mix thickens. Remove from the heat and add the chopped coriander. Leave to cool.
- To make the pastry, put the flour and polenta in a large bowl, rub in the butter until the mix resembles breadcrumbs
- Add the just boiled water and mix with a wooden spoon until the mix comes together, leave to cool for a few minutes then wrap the mix in cling film and place in the fridge for an hour.
- Remove from the fridge and knead in the Parmesan
- Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees c.
- Divide the dough into 8 balls, then on a well floured worktop roll each ball out into a 16cm round.
- Divide the filling between the 8 discs, leaving a 2cm gap around the edge of each disc.
- Now brush the exposed edge of the discs with the beaten egg and carefully bring the edges up to cover the filling, pinch together to make a small parcel.
- Brush the completed parcels with beaten egg.
- Place the pies on some baking paper and cook in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.
100 Cook Books 