Spicy flavorful beef stuffed in an amazing super easy buttery dough. Beef patties in oven together quickly and flies off the table. Making your own pastry can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Trust me, if you have a food processor it is a breeze and without one, you only have to sacrifice a few more minutes.
Now who doesn’t love Jamaican pies? A spicy beef filling encased in a flaky spicy pastry dough. Jamaican meat pies are very distinctive from the other meat pies like this African meat pie or the well-loved empanadas. It is yellowish due to the addition of turmeric. Turmeric is a spice that is mostly used for flavoring and also acts as a coloring agent. It gives off a mild fragrance slightly suggestive of orange and ginger.
It is used to make other spices especially curry powder. So if you do not have turmeric, you may replace it with mild curry powder. In this recipe, the beef filling is heavily spiced with cumin, garlic, onions, hot pepper, allspice, thyme, paprika and curry, differentiating itself from the rest. Some Jamaican beef patties are spicy hot with the inclusion of scotch bonnet pepper. If you can tolerate the heat then by all means add some in the filling. For the crust, you may use butter only. The reason why vegetable shortening is included in most pastries is because it is easier to work with .
However, butter is more flavorful than shortening. These addictive pastries would be great for any celebration because they can be made ahead of time and you can freeze them till the day of event. Place the dough on a well -floured surface. Divide it into 2 and roll it out. Using a large-mouth glass or bowl about 4-5″ cut out circles by gently pressing on the dough and releasing it, shaping the meat pie dough.
Continue cutting out the dough until it all has been cut. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use. Then add ground meat and breadcrumbs and continue cooking for about 10 or more minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Finally, add green onions and parsley and adjust for salt and pepper seasoning.