Beef Pasties from Rachel Allen Bake!

I follow a new goddess...and her name is Rachel Allen. You can check her out on Discovery Travel and Living : Rachel Allen Bake! every Friday at 7 pm. I have been meaning to make these pasties (empanadas) since God knows when. I have all the ingredients really (from a previous failed enterprise which i choose not to elaborate on) but I guess i just procrastinated so much that I just decided to make a few today. It was now or never. A do or die feat (well not exactly!) I had to make use of the ingredients I have since they are slightly different from the ones Rachel made, so for my version I used:



Filling :



200 grams of ground beef (you dont necessarily have to use the very lean ones)

a few grams of frozen green peas

a tbsp of butter

3 cloves garlic minced

1 red onion minced

1 jalapeno pepper minced

1 tbsp of Thai hot sauce

1 tbsp of Britt brown sauce

salt and pepper to taste

a tsp of cumin powder

a tsp of chilli powder (cumin and chilli powder makes all the difference)



Pastry



3/4 cup all purpose flour

3 tbsp shortenning

1/2 tsp baking powder

a tsp of cumin powder

a tsp of chill powder

a tsp of salt

under a cup of water

1 egg



Directions:



Again, take everything out of the fridge an hour before baking. This makes everything easier to manipulate.



Prepare your pastry first. Combine all your dry ingredients. Add in the egg and shortenning until your pastry resembles course crumbs. Knead with your hands as much as possible. Add in a few drops of water to let the loose crumbs adhere to the dough you're making. Knead into a flat dough and refrigerate until you are ready to use for the pasties.



Next you cook the filling. Sautee the garlic, onion and jalapeno in butter. When onion is transparent mix in your beef. Add the cumin, chilli, salt and pepper. When beef is brown and cooked through, add the hot sauce and brown sauce. Add the green peas. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 min.



Note: I didnt have tomato sauce handy at that time so i wasnt able to include it, however I strongly suggest that you follow Rachel's way of cooking and add in at least a tbsp or two of thick tomato sauce.



Once filling is cooked transfer to a bowl with sieve so that the juices can be strained and wouldn't run over your pastry. Next take your dough out of the fridge and flatten using a rolling pin (about a few cm thick) Get a bowl that you can use to cut circles through the pastry. For the pastry that I used, it yielded 6 large beef pasties (using a bowl about 2 inches in diameter for the pasties). Once your circles are ready, scoop about a tbsp of your beef filling onto each of the pastry circles. Fold and crimp the edges with a fork. Brush with beaten egg yolk if you have once.



Pop in the oven for 10 minutes. Serve hot with iced tea.