The Way I Cook: Jamaican Patties

These are delicious Jamaican pastries that contain spicy meat filling, baked inside a flaky shell, tinted with turmeric for a nice yellow colour.

The recipe is adapted from Meat Feasts by The Hairy Bikers.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

300 g plain flour
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
100 g lard
50 g butter
2-3 tbsp chilled water

For the filling:

250 g minced lamb, beef or pork
150 g potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice
50 g frozen peas
4 spring onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
15 g fresh root ginger, grated
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp allspice
grated zest of 1 lime
1 tsp mild curry powder
50 ml creamed coconut
1 tsp Scotch bonnet sauce (optional)
milk for brushing
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

To make the pastry, mix the flour with the turmeric and season with salt (and some pepper if desired). Rub in the lard and butter until the mixture has the texture of the breadcrumbs.

Add 2-3 tbsp cold water, a tablespoon at a time, cutting it into the flour mixture until you can form a dough.

Knead the dough very lightly until smooth, then wrap it in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge.

To make the filling, put the mince meat into a bowl and season it with salt and pepper.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the diced potatoes and peas and blanch them for 3 minutes.

Drain them and set them aside to cool.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and saute the spring onions, garlic and ginger for a minute or two, then remove the pan from the heat.

Add the potatoes, peas, spring onions, garlic and ginger to the meat, then sprinkle with thyme, allspice, lime zest, curry powder, creamed coconut and the hot sauce, if using.

Mix everything together thoroughly.

Preheat the oven to 200 C (fan 180 C).

Roll out the pastry and cut it into rounds (8 large or 12 small), using a bowl or a small size plate. Divide the filling into the same number of parts, and put one of them on half of each round.