Jamaican Veggie Patties Recipe

Flaky Pastry from Bryant Terry's Vegan Soul Kitchen Cookbook

© Jill Harris

May 3, 2009

This amazing vegan Jamaican Veggie Patties recipes comes from Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry. No need to use unhealthy vegetable shortening or hard-to-find vegan margarine for this recipe – coconut oil holds it all together and produces a perfect flaky crust.

Terry also suggests trying different fillings with this recipe – his Sweet Coconut-Ginger Creamed Corn (page 108), for example.

Jamaican Veggie Patties Recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Soundtrack: “Ghetto Youth” by Tricky from Pre-Millennium Tension

Film: Life and Debt (2001), directed by Stephanie Black. This documentary explores economic globalization and its impact on the Jamaican economy.

Filling

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• ½ cup ¼-inch-diced yellow onion
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• Coarse sea salt
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ cup coconut milk
• ¼ cup ¼-inch-diced carrots
• ¼ cup ¼-inch-diced yellow potatoes
• ½ cup fresh green peas, rinsed (use frozen if fresh are unavailable)
• ½ cup fresh sweet corn (you can also use frozen if fresh isn’t available)
• ½ cup shredded cabbage
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Pastry

• 1 ¾ cups unbleached white flour, chilled
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, chilled
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¾ cup chilled coconut butter
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water

For the filling

1. In a medium-size sauté pan over medium-low heat, combine the coconut oil, the onion, cinnamon, allspice, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and ½ teaspoon salt.
2. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are caramelized. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the coconut milk, carrots, and potatoes, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the carrots and potatoes are tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Stir in the green peas, corn, cabbage, thyme, and lemon juice, cover and cook for 3 minutes more.
5. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and set aside to allow the flavours to marry.

For the pastry

1. Combine 1 ½ cups of the white flour with the pastry flour, turmeric, and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
2. Set the remaining ¼ cup white flour aside. Add the coconut butter to the flour mixture and rub with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine sand, about 10 minutes.
3. Combine the vinegar and water and mix well. Then, without overworking the dough, add the vinegar mixture by the tablespoon, while stirring, just until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and starts to coalesce.
4. Squeeze into a tight ball, flatten, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven 350°F and remove the dough from the refrigerator.
6. With the reserved flour, lightly dust a clean surface, roll our the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut six 6-inch circles from the dough (I use a bowl). Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of the filling onto the center of one side of each circle, leaving about a 1/8-inch border. Fold the other half over to make a half-moon, press to seal, and make ridges around the edge using a fork.
7. Transfer the patties to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Serve immediately with hot sauce.

From the book Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2009. Find out more at www.dacapopresscookbooks.com.

Jamaican Veggie Patties

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