Patties Recipe

Patties Recipe

(Sri Lankan Recipe)

Patty Pastry:

2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons dripping or butter

¼ cup thick coconut milk

2 yolks of eggs, beaten

oil for frying

Filling:

500 g (1 lb) chicken

500 g (1 lb) beef or lamb

250 g (8 oz) pork

125 g (4 oz) bacon or ham

1 tablespoon ghee

1 medium onion, finely chopped

8 curry leaves

2 teaspoons Ceylon curry powder

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon each ground cloves and cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 stalk lemon grass or 2 strips lemon rind

½ cup thick coconut milk

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh dill

4-6 hard-boiled eggs

Shortcrust pastry:

2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

pinch baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon castor sugar

60 g (2 oz) dripping

60 g (2 oz) butter or margarine

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4-5 tablespoons iced water

Method:

Pastry:  Sift flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the shortening with your fingertips.  Add the coconut milk and egg yolks mixed together and knead lightly to a smooth dough.  If necessary add a little extra milk or flour - flour varies in absorbency and it is difficult to be absolutely precise.  Wrap dough in greaseproof paper and chill for 30 minutes.  Take one quarter of the dough at a time and roll out very thinly on lightly floured board.  Cut into circles using a large scone cutter 8 cm (3¼ inches) in diameter.  Put a teaspoonful of the filling and a piece of hard-boiled egg on the pastry rounds.  Wet the edges of the pastry with egg white, fold over to make half circle and press edges firmly together to seal.  In Sri Lanka the edge is always ornamented by pressing with a key or the tines of a fork.  When all the patties are made, fry a few at a time in deep hot oil.  Coconut oil is used in Sri Lanka but any good vegetable oil such as peanut oil can be substituted.  Drain on absorbent paper and serve warm.

Filling:  Put chicken, beef and pork into a saucepan with just enough water to cover, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Cool.  Remove the parboiled chicken meat from the bones and cut into small dice.  Do the same with the beef and pork.  Remove rind from bacon and cut into small squares.  Heat ghee in a saucepan and fry the onion and curry leaves until onion is soft and starts to turn brown.  Add the curry powder, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, pepper and salt and stir well.  Add about 1½ cups of the stock left from cooking the meats.  Add lemon grass and the diced meat.  Mix well, cover and simmer gently until meats are tender and liquid almost evaporated.  Add the coconut milk and dill, stir and cook uncovered until coconut milk is absorbed.  Remove from heat.  When cool, pick out the lemon grass or lemon rind and the curry leaves.  Cut the hard-boiled eggs in pieces and gently mix in.  Make sure each patty has a piece of hard-boiled egg in it.  If preferred, the eggs can be kept separate and a piece or two put on top of the curried filling before sealing the pastry.

Shortcrust pastry:  Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl and rub in the shortening.  Mix lemon juice and iced water and add to flour, mixing to a smooth dough.  Add a little more water if needed.  Wrap in greaseproof paper and chill for 30 minutes before rolling out.