Vicky Quirk began the Betty Pies Co. in 2014. Based in a distinctive vintage caravan, her unique pies, made with a focus on locally-sourced produce, became a popular fixture at fairs and festivals across the island.

Vicky and her husband Benn, the owner of the Manx Cider Co, are now planning to open a large cafe based at the Bungalow, on Snaefell.

Here she shares a recipe for one of her most popular pies, a lamb curry pie with yellow pastry.

Pie filling

Two onions, two inches of peeled ginger and four fat cloves of garlic

Three tablespoons of oil

2 teaspoons of the following: salt, ground coriander and ground cumin

Half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Six crushed cardamom seeds

1 tablespoon each of tomato puree, lemon juice and brown sugar

One shoulder of Manx lamb

Method

Roughly chop the onions, ginger and garlic, and put them in a blender with a good splash of water, the oil and salt.

Whizz them up for a good few minutes. The oil in the mix should make the puree into a nice creamy colour and texture.

Put this puree into a heavy based saucepan on a medium heat so that it bubbles slightly.

Add a teaspoon of turmeric.

Be warned! It can bubble and splash and make one heck of a mess.

Stir fairly often. The plan here is for all the water to evaporate nice and slowly. It can take a good 15 to 20 minutes.

Try your best not to let it brown too much. You don’t want a burnt acrid taste.

The aim here is for the puree to split.

You’ll see the oil separate from the nice yellow mixture. If it doesn’t seem to be going that way, add another drizzle of oil and keep cooking on low.

When it has split, add the ground coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne and the bashed up cardamom seeds.

Cook for anther couple of minutes.

Add one tablespoon of tomato puree, one tablespoon of lemon juice and one desert spoon of brown sugar. Stir for a minute or so.

Spread this mixture over the shoulder of lamb.

Put the lamb in a tight fitting casserole dish.

Pour in a tin of coconut milk and a splash of water. Cook this on low - 150C - for three hours with the lid on.

Put the temperature up to 170C and cook for a further half hour with the lid off.

There may be quite a bit of oil from both the lamb and the coconut milk.

Tip the pan on one side and skim some of that off.

You now have a really delicious roast lamb which should fall away from the bone.

You can eat the lamb as you would a roast, with roast spuds, maybe some green beans or some other veg.

OR you can shred it, mix it with the yummy juices and put it into a pie.

Here’s how to make a yellow hot water pastry

40 grams each of lard and butter.

20 grams of suet

Four fluid ounces of water.

360 grams of plain flour with 1 teaspoon of turmeric and a teaspoon of Nigella seeds stirred in.

Put the water, lard, suet and butter into a pan and bring it to the boil. Be careful as it rolls up the pan when it boils so watch it.

When it comes to the boil, pour the liquid over the flour, turmeric and Nigella seeds. Stir it in with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring and when your hands can handle it, get your hands in there and give it a quick kneed.

If it still seems dry, add a bit more water from the kettle.

You should have a lovely, pliable glossy pastry.

Grease your tin of choice. You can do individual muffin tins or one larger, cake tin.

I have a pie press but you can use your hands to squeeze and press out the shape of the botton and sides of the tin. You don’t bake off hot water pastry.

Fill that with the shredded lamb mix. Roll out a pie lid and crimp it to the pastry coming up the sides of the tin.

Make a hole in the middle of the pie to let some steam out.

Bake them at about 170 degrees in a fan-assisted oven for 30 minutes if individuals or 45 minutes if it’s a biggie.

When you take them out of the oven, let them rest for a couple of minutes then tap the sides of the tin with a rolling pin or something similar and then they should pop out.

I would serve the pie with a really delicious sort of slaw with finely shredded red cabbage, matchsticks of carrots, a good handful of fresh coriander. If you want to be oh so fancy, add fresh coconut shavings if you can get a coconut and pomegranate seeds.

Mix in a simple salad dressing of lemon or lime juice, olive oil, a little salt and a little fresh green chilli.