Mutton curry pies are one of my favourite childhood foods. Mutton in the South African context refers to sheep and not goat meat and mutton curry pies are made with a puff pastry base and a mutton curry filling. Mutton curry pies, like Amma’s fresh cream doughnuts, evoke fond childhood memories of road trips, the supermarket we once owned and Amma’s pie project. My personal favourite is the Big Jack Pies we sold in the shop and Amma’s homemade pies -she sold at school.
Unlike Amma’s Sunday lunch mutton curry, the pie filling variant is a milder one with peas. Cornflour is added as a thickener to prevent the gravy from seeping through the pastry. The perfect accompaniment to mutton curry pies is ice cold cola!
Pies can be moulded using diposable foil pie trays or muffin or cupcake pans. (see the Chicken Pie Recipe for instructions).
Mutton Curry Pies
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes for mutton curry and 25 minutes for baking
Total time: 70 minutes
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients
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- 1 kg deboned mutton or lamb meat cubed
- 1 medium sized onion, sliced fine
- 1 tablespoon mutton curry masala or half tablespoon chilli powder
- half teaspoon garamasala
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
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- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
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- half teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup peas
- 1 medium sized tomato chopped fine
- 1 tablespoon corn flour (maizena)
- 3 cups water
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- 2 sheets readymade puff pastry
1. Add oil to a non stick pan. Heat on medium heat.
- 2. Add mutton pieces. Fry for 5 minutes, turning until all sides are brown.
- 3. Add chopped onion and ginger and garlic.
- 4. Combine. Fry until the onions are soft.
- 5. Add powdered spice. Mix. Add tomato and 1 cup of water. Stir. Cover. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- 6. Add peas. Add another cup of water. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.
- 7. Combine the corn flour with remaining cup of water.
- 8. Add the cornflour; simmer for 10 minutes on low heat, while stirring.
- 9. Remove the mutton curry from the stove. Prepare the pastry.
- 10. Preheat the oven.
- 11. Open the readymade pastry. Cut out desired shapes. Place into baking dish. Spoon mutton curry mixture over the pastry. Close with a piece of pastry. Fold the top piece of pastry over the bottom piece. Use a fork to seal the fold.
- 12. Bake pies for 25-30 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius or longer until the tops are golden brown.
- 13. Remove from oven. Serve warm.
