How to make Spicy Beef Pies

For these spicy beef pies I used chuck steak. This is from the fore quarter of the animal and needs a long, slow cook to make it tender, succulent and delicious. I first made a marinade and let the chunks of beef soak up the tastes for two hours in the refrigerator. Once that was done I added water to it and covered it before cooking for three hours on a low gas.

The marinade was:

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried coriander

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

half an onion, diced.

A good splash of olive oil.

I Mixed the marinade together and spread it over the beef.

After 2 hours in the fridge I covered the mixture with cold water and put it in the preheated oven at gas mark 7 or 220C. After half an hour I reduced the heat to gas mark 2, or 90 C and cooked it for 3 hours. It then came out of the oven and cooled down. I baked two potatoes, skinned them and chopped them, then added them to the mixture.

I made the pastry by boiling 100 mls of water and dissolving 75 grams of cooking margarine in it. That was poured into 225 grams of plain flour with a teaspoon of salt in it. Then it was mixed together with a fork and allowed to cool down.

It was then simple to roll out the pastry thinly, line the pie moulds and fill them with the meat and potato mixture, put the tops on and paint with milk. Bake at Gas mark 7, 220C for twenty-five minutes. If your oven is like mine and the bottoms of your pies don't get cooked through, take them out of the moulds, turn them upside down and give them another ten minutes.

I must say that the spicy beef pies were delicious.