Jamaican Beef Patties
Makes about 24 to 30 pastries
(Jamaica)
Preparation time:
20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
dough (or use 2
packages of commercial 9-inch pie crust):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 dash salt
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup shortening
1/3 cup water
flling:
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely diced
1 ½ cups ¼-inch diced potatoes
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon curry powder, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten with ¼ teaspoon curry powder
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
cook
the filling:
Par boil the diced potatoes in sufficient salted water to cover
the potatoes completely.
Melt the butter in a skillet
over medium heat, add the onions and diced potatoes and sauté them until the
onions are soft and translucent. Stir in
the ground beef, the curry powder, the thyme,
salt, black
pepper, and the cayenne. Cook until beef is evenly brown, stirring constantly.
Stir in beef broth and bread crumbs. Simmer until liquid is absorbed. Remove
from heat and allow to cool.
mix
the dough and form:
In a large bowl, combine flour,
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder, and pinch of salt. Into those ingredients, cut in the 1/4 cup of margarine
and shortening until the mixture resembles a coarse crumb. Stir in the water until mixture comes
together and forms a ball. Shape the dough
ball into a 10-inch log, and cut into 10 equal sections. Roll each section into
a six inch circle (approximately 1/8 inch thick). Set aside.
Or
One at a time, roll out each of
the pie crust to about 1/8-inch thickness.
Cut the rolled out dough into as many 4 1/4-inch circles as you can,
reserve the dough scraps. Continue until
all 4 9-inch crusts have been rolled out an cut into 4 ¼ -inch circles. Gather up the dough scraps, combine them and roll them out into a 1/8-inch sheet and
cut out as many 4 ¼-inch circles as you can.
Set aside the circles of dough.
form
the pastries:
Working with one of the circles
of dough at a time, spoon about one tablespoon of filling into the center of the
pastry circle. Fold over and press edges together, making a half circle. Using a fork press
the edges together to seal. Place the
pastry half circle on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Continue until all the filling and pastry
circles are use up. Brush the top of
each patty with the beaten egg/curry mixture.
bake
the pastries:
Bake in preheated oven for 30
minutes, or until golden brown.
service:
Serve as an accompaniment to
your favourite meal or as an hors d'ouvres accompanied by mango chutney or your
favourite dipping sauce.