Make plantain pie

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For 12 Plantain Pies, you'll need:

For the dough

• 1 over-ripe plantain
• 300g/10.5oz. plain flour (all purpose flour)
• 125g/4.4oz. butter (NOT margarine)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the filling

Any food item that goes well with plantains (especially fried plantains) will make a great filling for Plantain Pies. That is why I called them Plantain Pies and not Yam Pies. So feel free to use beans porridge, egg omelette etc as your filling.

• 200g/7oz. white puna yam
• 2 eggs
• 1 onion
• A small piece of red pepper
• Salt (to taste)

Tools you'll need to bake Plantain Pies

• 3.75-inch (9.5cm) cookie cutter
• 3-inch (7.5cm) cookie cutter
• Muffin tray with 12 cups
• Oven, sieve, spatula, brush, rolling pin etc

More information about the ingredients

1. Baking powder is optional because I made this pie with and without baking powder, I did not notice any difference in the taste and texture.
2. Set some butter aside for greasing the muffin tray cups.

Before you prepare Plantain Pie

1. Peel and cook the yam till well done then set aside to cool down completely.
2. Cut the onions and red pepper into small pieces.
3. When the yam has cooled down, cut into small cubes.

Directions

The dough

1. Peel the over ripe plantain and mash with a fork. Set aside.
2. Sift half of the flour, the salt and the baking powder into a clean dry bowl.
3. Cut the butter into small pieces. Add them to the flour and mix till the butter is incorporated into the flour.
4. Add the mashed plantain. Mix with a spatula till as smooth as possible. You will notice that it is quite sticky.
5. Start adding the second half of the flour in small quantities, mix with the plantain and flour dough, add more, mix ... till you get a non-sticky but soft ball of dough. If you do not achieve this with the quantity of flour I stated, add more flour till you get that. Ideally the quantity of flour you'll need depends on how overripe your plantain is.
6. When you are happy, cover the ball of dough with aluminium foil and leave to rest for about 10 minutes.

The Filling

1. Break the eggs and beat very well.
2. Add salt and stir.
3. Add the pieces of boiled yam, red pepper and onions. Stir very well and set aside.

Roll, Cut, Fill and Bake

1. Grease the insides of the muffin tray cups with butter.
2. When the dough has rested for about 10 minutes, knead it a few more times.
3. Roll it out on a flat surface to a 3mm thickness.
4. Cut the rolled out dough with the 3.75-inch cookie cutter and use the cut out dough to line in the cup in the muffin tray. You can make several cuts at a time.
5. Repeat the process till you have lined the 12 cups of the muffin tray.
6. Scope the muffin into each of the cups. Leave some egg in the bowl; you'll need it for glazing the pies.
7. Roll out the remaining dough and cut with the 3-inch cookie cutter. Use these to cover each of the filled cups.
8. Using a brush, to rub the edge with the leftover egg from the filling. This gives the pie a golden brown suite when done.
9. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
   
   Oven temperatures:
   • Normal oven: 200C (400F)
   • Fan Oven: 180C (350F)
   • Gas mark number: 6

Serve with a chilled drink. These pies preserve well in the freezer and will still be fresh for up to 1 month. To use, bring out from the freezer, leave to defrost on your kitchen counter for a few hours. Warm it up in the microwave oven for about 2 minutes at medium heat. Perfect!