Middle Eastern Style Meat Pie

Part of my heritage is Turkish, and growing up in Hong Kong, my family always made food a HUGE priority and eating different foods from around the world was a big thing in our family.

I have also strong ties with Australia, and anyone who has lived/been there, would know about the Aussie Four 'N' Twenty meat pies, eaten with tomato sauce (ketchup for those who are not familiar with the Aussie terminologies); a favourite to eat on a cool day at the footy match burning our fingers and tongue on the ooey gooey goodness that is inside.


















So what I decided to do was marry up the two ideas of meat pie and Middle East and created this Middle Eastern-style meat pie.

The "crust" is very unique as there is no flour, but it has a really nice floured texture to it.

So try it out, and let me know what you think and how you like it.

1lb ground beef
2 cups #2 Bulgar wheat (washed and soaked)
1 cup cilantro
½ cup mint leaves
1 green onion
1 lemon, juiced
½ cup vegetable oil
6 cloves garlic
3 TBSP ground cumin
2 TBSP sumac
2 tsp Salt
Dash Pepper

3 TBSP of the mix above
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup tahini sauce
1 tsp salt


1. Chop the cilantro, mint and green onion coarsely and pop into Magic Bullet; add garlic, lemon juice, oil, cumin, sumac, salt, pepper – blend together
2. In a bowl, put in the Bulgar wheat, beef, and the sauce (reserve 3 TBSP in the Magic Bullet cup) – mix together with hand until very well blended together
3. Put the meat mixture into an oven proof dish (with a lid) and spread till the top is nicely even, set aside
4. Add to the reserved sauce the ¼ cup vegetable oil, ½ cup tahini sauce, and salt; blend together until it comes together in a mayonnaise consistency
5. Spread this all over the top of the meat and spread to make top nice and even on top, place lid on
6. Cook in a 450*F oven for 45 minutes – the top will become very crusty. Let sit for 5 minutes and then cut into wedges and serve with a nice cucumber and tomato salad (dressing recipe to follow)

Cucumber Tomato Salad

½ cup extra virgin olive oil (or vegetable oil)
Juice from one lemon
1 tsp honey
2 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 Persian cucumbers, sliced (or diced depending on desire)
1 tomato, diced

Place first five ingredients into Magic Bullet and blend until creamy. Add to a bowl and add the vegetables and toss until well coated