Patties – Baked Puff Pastry stuffed with seasoned ground Beef

Wishing all of my lovely friends and your families a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2015. Sharing with you today a staple snack in Goa called Patties (pronounced as pat-tis). A light snack stuffed with spiced ground beef in a puff pastry shell.

Patties were only made with ground beef. Now a days you can find it made with chicken and potatoes. Before all the fancy cafe’s in Goa there were tea stalls, small mom and pop cafe’s and bakeries were Patties were on the menu. Bakeries during the 80’s and 90’s had very limited choices. Fresh bread was baked 2 times a day and a few snacks and sweets. To name a few Nankhatai (cookies made with flour, sugar and butter), Botta (baked crisped sweet bread sticks), Kaankana( Goan toasted hard Bagel), Angel Wings ( Palmier’s) and Plain Toast. I remember as my dad would get these all the time for our evening tea.

Usually Patties are not made at home but are bought from the bakery or cafe’s as puff pastry dough is hard to find in the stores and not too many people know how to make puff pastry dough. It’s a different story now a days. All you need for this recipe is to make Mince Meat (cooked ground beef) which you can make in advance and then stuffed in puff pastry dough and baked.

Serving approx: 24 patties

Recipe for Mince Meat

Ingredients:

1 lbs of very lean ground beef (93%)

1 medium onion chopped fine

1″ ginger chopped fine

1 tbsp of xacuti masala

1/3 cup water

1/4 tsp of sugar

1/2 tsp of vinegar

1 box of puff pastry

salt to taste

Directions:

Heat oil in a pot, saute the onions and ginger till onions are translucent.

Add the xacuti masala and saute for 1 minute. Add the vinegar, sugar and saute for a quick minute.

Next add the ground beef and mix it well with all the spices add water and salt to taste and cook covered for 20 minutes on medium heat. Uncover and cook for another 10 minutes till all the water dries.

Take 1 medium diced onion and brown it with 1/2 tsp of sugar and salt, till light caramelized. Mix it together with the cooked ground beef. Let this mixture cool.

Directions for Patties:

Heat oven to 400F

Divided each thawed sheet into 6 equal portions. On one half of the part place a tablespoon full of ground beef. Fold the sheet and press all the side together as a nice rectangle.

Continue with the above step for each cut out part. Line the patties on a sprayed cookie sheet. Lightly brush with oil/melted butter on top. Bake for approx 15 minutes till crust is light golden brown and puffy.

Not a meat eater then we have the Vegetarian Patties Recipe for you. Just stuff the puff pastry with any cooked vegetables or cooked mushrooms.

Serve hot for brunch or as a snack.