Christmas Mince Pie Recipe

My family has used the same recipe for decades, probably. Lots of fatty goodness, this will make about 4 dozen pies, depending on how thin you roll your pastry.

Christmas Mince Pies

Fruit mince meat

1x large tin pie apples

225g currants

225g sultanas

225g raisins

120g mixed peel

675g sugar

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp nutmeg

225g melted butter

Brandy to taste (about 1 wine glass)

Mince all fruit together.  Add sugar. Mix well with melted butter. Add spices and brandy.

Make this a few months in advance and store in the fridge. It should keep for a couple of years, if you keep the jars sealed.

Sugar free mince meat

Instead of adding sugar add sugar substitute.  Melt with butter.

Make fruit mince meat ahead of time. Place in airtight container and keep in fridge.

Pastry

250g margarine/butter

250g Holsum (vegetable fat)

500g flour

1 cup boiling water

Sieve flour.  Cut up butter/Holsum.  Mix well with water.  Will result in a sloppy consistency.  Place in wax proof paper and cool in fridge.

Roll out pastry on floured surface. Using a glass cut out pie “bottoms” and place in cookie baking tray; place teaspoon of mince meat on top of “bottom.  Use a slightly smaller glass to cut out “tops”; brush underneath with water and place on top of mince meat.  Seal edges.  Use a sharp knife to make 2 small vents in the top.

Cooking

Bake at 220° for 15 – 18 minutes in a pre-heated oven. Watch carefully – don’t overcook.

Bobotie

For those of you who are not of Seffrican descent, bobotie is/was the official dish of South Africa, much as the croissant is of France and crappy everything is of the UK. This is a relatively easy dish to make, unlike anything from France, and tastes really good, unlike anything from the UK. If you can get your hands on it, it goes best with Mrs HS Balls's chutney. If you can't, make your own, or find some in a supermarket. Can't help you there yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

2 slices white bread (save up your stale offcuts, they work much better than fresh bread)

2 onions, diced

25g butter

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1kg packet lean minced beef

2 tbsp curry paste

3 cloves

1tsp mixed herbs

1 tbsp allspice (this I got from the original recipe I used. I didn't know what it was, and if you're as ignorant as I was, it's a very common spice in Caribbean cuisine)

2 tbsp peach or mango chutney

3 tbsp raisins

6 bay leaves

300ml (full cream if possible) milk

2 large eggs

Heat oven to 180C. Soak the bread in cold water while doing the other stuff.

Fry the onions in the butter. Add the garlic and beef and brown the beef. Stir in the curry paste, mixed herbs, spices, chutney, raisins and 2 of the bay leaves with 1 tsp salt and plenty of ground black pepper.

Cover and simmer for 10 mins. Squeeze the water from the bread, then beat into the meat mixture until well blended. Tip into an oval ovenproof dish - about 23 x 33cm and about 5-6cm deep. Press the mixture down well and smooth the top.

For the topping, beat the milk and eggs with seasoning, then pour over the meat. Top with the remaining bay leaves and bake for 35-40 mins until the topping is set and starting to turn golden.

The topping is rather very important. If it ain't there, you're doing it wrong.

Serve it with yellow rice: shove 1 1/2 cups of rice into a pot with water according to directions, along with 1/2 a cinnamon stick, 5 tbsp of raisins and 1 tsp of turmeric. If you want to be fancy, put some cardamon in as well.


This is an adaptation of a BBC recipe - who would have known the Brits could make good Saffer food?