Albanian Meat Pie - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 homemade discs phyllo pastry or 12 -16 sheets of premade phyllo pastry
750 g beef mince
1 diced onion
2 finely diced potatoes
3 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 pint beef stock
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
olive oil
220 ml water

Preparation

In a saucepan add the olive oil and fry the onions for 2 minutes before adding the mince and browning.
Add the tomotoe puree, salt, pepper, paprika, potatoes and beef stock. Bring to the boil, leave to simmer for 10 minutes/ When the mixture has thickered and water boiled away turn off the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
If using homemade pastry, place a filo pastry disc in a large baking tray and add filling on top the add the second disc on top and seal the edges by tucking them down.
For premade pastry, layer sheets of filo pastry on top of each other brushing a layer of olive oil after each one before the next one is place down. Once 6/8 sheet are laid add the filling on top. Repeat the layering until a further 6/8 sheets are on top of the filling - olive oil brushed on each one.
Put a thin layer of oil over the top.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 1 hour or until golden brown.
Once removed from the oven, pour half a cup of water over the top and half a cup of water around the edges. Cover the meat byrek with two tea towels and leave to stand for 1 hour before serving. You can skip this step if you prefer a crisper pie.