When I first arrived in New Zealand, I had a short-lived obsession for supermarket and dairy staple, Big Ben pies which the kids loved it as a school or after-school snack.

I’ve come to appreciate more sophisticated pies since then- a couple of award-winning ones in fact- but given a choice between a wagyu beef and chanterelle mushroom pie and a siopao, I’d honestly pick the siopao.

I don’t know really- sometimes like with steak and kidney (a favourite), there can be a bit of stodginess or heaviness to it. And sometimes I feel, the use of pastry which is so western throws me off a bit which I associate (and prefer) more with sweet like a good apple pie (I made individual apple pies in a muffin pan a couple of weeks back actually).

But having store-bought flaky pastry is good enough reason to try and make some, which at a glance on Youtube seemed so straightforward that I didn't use any particular recipe. You can basically flavour your beef whichever way you want it. I did the traditional route as if I was making normal beef stew; sear and brown the beef pieces first (I used a cheap blade steak cut) before putting them on a slow-cooker to soften. I used mushrooms but put them in a food processor with brown onions and garlic, and fried them in butter. Seasoning of course was Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, several tablespoons of chipotle sauce and heaps of black pepper.

We currently don’t have proper individual pie pans- thinking of getting some of those traditional enamel ones- so had to stuff them into a muffin pan. The portions were small that I couldn’t really seal the tops nicely and two, if you want your pies to be on the saucy side, there’s not enough room for the sauce either.

But they turned out perfect, like really; about 20 minutes in the oven at 180 and they were done. Served them with store-bought deli veggies.