Around the World in 7 Hand Pies

Handpies. The perfect way to indulge in some comfort food, without eating a whole pie (unless you eat them all in one sitting). During my mom’s visit, I was reminded of my love for mini pies, as I introduced her to Biltong Bar and their scrumptious beef bobotie hand pies. As I was eating it, I was also reminded of my good friend Vari’s empanadas and my Australian friends’ meat pies. And that is how I decided to make 7 types of savory hand pies, all reminding me of someone or something I am fond of, somewhere around the globe.

After much debating, I was inspired by the following countries: Australia, South Africa, Germany, Costa Rica, India, China and Canada.

Now, I do no pretend to be an expert on the food of any of these countries. Generally speaking, I looked for several recipes and found the common ground, in hope of coming up with something somewhat authentic. I was very eager to get started and, therefore, didn’t take the time to contact all my friends to get their recipes (and, to be fair, most of them often tells me they don’t use a recipe so that would help no one). 🙂

I made the pies in batches, 3 types at a time, followed by an unplanned one later on. For each of them, I followed the same routine: stick the ingredient lists to the microwave, gather the ingredients and get to work! While some recipes varied slightly, most of them were about the same: place the ingredients in a pot and cook them for 30 minutes or so! You want to make sure everything is fully cooked and you also want to give the spices enough time to work their way through the mixture. For the dough, you could use your favorite pie dough recipe, empanada pastry discs (such as these), or puff pastry sheets (which is what I used for the Quebec pork pies).

South African Beef Curry Pies (inspired by Bobotie)

Ingredients: (makes 6-10 pies)

• 1/2 lb of ground beef
• 1/2 tablespoon of oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• 1 potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup of peas, fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of cornstarch + 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce (mixed together before adding to the pot)
• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of coriander
• 1 teaspoon of curry powder
• Zest of half a lemon

Australian Meat Pies

Ingredients: (makes 6-10 pies)

• 1/2 lb of ground beef (could also use small beef chunks)
• 2 oz of bacon (1-2 slices), cut into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• 1/2 cup of beef broth
• 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Ketchup, or tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch + 1 tablespoon of water (mixed together before adding to the pot)
• Handful of parsley, chopped
• Nutmeg, salt and pepper

Costa Rican Beef Empanadas

Ingredients: (makes 6-10 pies)

• 1/2 lb of beef
• 1 small potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1/4 teaspoon of oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 2 teaspoons of ancho chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon of oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 cup of beef broth
• 1 tablespoon of olives, finely chopped

Chinese Beef Meat Pies (inspired by Xian Bing)

Ingredients: (makes 6-10 pies)

• 1/2 lb of beef
• 1 scallion, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon of Chinese Five-Spice
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• Pinch of pepper
• 2 teaspoons of sesame oil

German Meat Pies

Ingredients: (makes 6-10 pies)

• 1/2 lb of ground beef
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of black pepper
• 1/4 of small cabbage head, chopped
• 1/2 lb of sauerkraut
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Indian Vegetable Pies

Ingredients: (makes 6-10 pies)

• 1 large potato, boiled and roughly mashed
• 1 cup of cauliflower, chopped and steamed
• 1/2 carrot, chopped and steamed
• 1/4 cup of peas
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of green bell peppers, chopped into small pieces
• 2 green chilies, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1/2 tablespoon of fresh ginger, grated
• 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
• Salt

*Here are a couple of tips for this recipe:

1. You can steam the cauliflower, carrot and peas together to save some time.
2. Start by frying the cumin seeds in the olive oil before adding the other ingredients.

Quebec Pork Pies

Ingredients: (makes 6-10 pies)

• 1 lb of ground pork
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon of allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• Salt, pepper
• Additional cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves….to taste
• 1/4 cup of water
• Optional: 2 tablespoons of quick oats to thicken the mixture, to be added at the very end.

 

Really, the best part about making these little pies – other than having a freezer full of yummies- was thinking about the friends each of them reminded me of. And I don’t think I am done yet. I want to try new combinations, both from other countries and my own creations…although according to my husband, I need to eat the ones currently filling up our freezer before adding more. 🙂