When we were in Jamaica, this absolutely beautiful country with lots of fantastic gluten free things we could eat, all Justin would do is whine about how he couldn't eat the Jamaican beef patties.
I might be exaggerating. But he talked about it A LOT (now all he talks about is getting a Suburban - long story).
Anyway, for Christmas my stepmom got us this Jamaican cookbook and one of the first recipes is Jamaican Beef Patties. Justin, of course, found the beef patty recipe and started talking about them. AGAIN.
I finally decided to make these for him on Valentine's Day. This was my gift to him.
They were a pain to make. There are a lot of steps and they take a lot of time, but WOW . . . they are so worth it. Especially considering I made a gluten free version.
Justin is obsessed with them. He ate one for BREAKFAST yesterday. I imagine he will beg me to make these often, BUT you can easily make a big batch and freeze them. So, no problem.
Here's what you need (very slightly adapted from Lucinda's Authentic Jamaican Kitchen) . . .
For the dough:
2 1/2 cups of flour (I used Williams Sonoma GF Cup4Cup)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp curry powder
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of ice cold water
For the filling:
1 pound ground beef (I used ground chuck)
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 habanero peppers, minced*
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups of water
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used GF ones from The Fresh Market)
1 egg beaten with a few drops of water (for crust)
*The original recipe calls for scotch bonnet peppers. I could not find these anywhere, but habanero is a good substitute. Be SO careful when you chop these! Just the smell burned my eyes.
Here's what you do . . .
1. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and curry powder. Cut your butter into the bowl and use your hands to mush it together so it makes a course meal. Add ice water and knead the dough until it forms a ball. Try not to knead it too much.
2. Spread the dough into two pieces, flattening each into a really thick pancake. Refrigerate for AT LEAST an hour. The longer you refrigerate, the easier it is to work with the dough later. I think I refrigerated mine for 3-4 hours.
3. When the dough is ready, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. In a large saute pan, heat the oil on high heat. Add beef, onion, garlic, peppers, thyme, salt, pepper, and curry powder. Saute until most of the moisture is evaporated and the meat is brown. Little brown bits should form on the bottom of your pan.
5. Add water and scrape the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add more if you need it. Add the bread crumbs and stir to combine. Cover the mixture (which should look like a stew) and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then set aside.
6. Take your dough out of the fridge. Cut each pancake into 8 even pieces (total of 16). Roll each piece into a big oval like you see above. Place it on a greased cookie sheet and spoon a decent amount of beef onto half of the oval. Leave some space on the outside like you see above and below
7. Use your finger and put water around the border of the beef. Flip the other side over and press down with your fingers to get it to stick. I used a fork and pressed it around the edge of the patty.
8. Once you have all your patties on your cookie sheet, brush them evenly with your beaten egg. Make sure you cover the whole top of the patty.
9. Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes. Remove, let cool, and enjoy!
They really are delicious even though it took what felt like FOREVER. It's really not that bad; the most time consuming party was rolling out each piece of dough and folding the meat into it, but that only took 30 minutes total.
Make them! Drink with a rum punch for true Jamaican authenticity.
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