Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pastries make a good lunch

I'm loving kale. It's my green veggie to learn this year.

I'm less than convined that what I've made is Jamaican. Kale just doesn't scream Carribean to me. But I want to record what I did so I might be able to do something similar in the future.

Kale Patties

I'd accidently opened a can of white beans and needed to use them. A search on Foodgawker turned up Jamaican Style Curried Kale and White Bean ‘Patties’ and with my newly discovered interest in kale I couldn't not try them. So I went to the grocery store.


Now I like my new grocery store. It's half the size of my reservation grocery store (and that one was small) but it's in a multi-ethnic neighborhood and stocks all sorts of amazing things. I can get pastries from 3 different world regions, but I couldn't find puff pastry. So I looked around the internet and found this recipe to use for crust.


Whatever it is, it's good. The baked ones are great to take to school for lunch and I'm trying freezing them in the pre-baked stage to see how that works. Because who doesn't love a good homemade frozen dinner? 


So now then. My modified recipe.



Filling


1 bunch kale 
Salt
1 can white Beans

½ Tbsp vegetable oil
Pinches of crushed red pepper
1 tsp minced or grated garlic
1 tsp minced or grated ginger
1/2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp curry powder
1/8 tsp turmeric




Blanch the kale. (Bring a large enough pot of water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt to the water if you like. The original uses a teaspoon of vinegar to help the kale stay bright green. Your choice there. While the water is heating, chop up the kale. Once the water boils, drop the kale in, let it cook for a minute, maybe less. Then drain and wash the kale in cold water to stop the cooking.)


Meanwhile drain and wash the beans.


Find a skillet large enough to hold everything and heat up the oil. Cook the crushed red pepper, ginger, garlic for ~30 seconds. Then add the curry and tumeric. Stir everything for a couple of seconds then add the beans and kale. Mix it all up. Turn off the stove. Now's a good time to turn on the oven. Preheat to 400º.


Got it?


Crust


2 cups wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 Tablespoon curry powder
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup water


Mix the dry ingredients.
Cut in the butter.
Stir in the oil and water to make a nice dough.


And putting it together


You're going to take small balls of the crust. Roll them out into pretty circles. Fill them. Close them. Bake them. All that jazz.
One method: form the crust into a log and then cut it into 20 pieces.
Or just make balls the size of a small scoop of icecream. (Ping pong ball size? Larger than a walnut, smaller than a tennis ball.)
It's pretty if you brush the top of the patties with a beaten egg. Just seems like I then waste the rest of the egg.
Anyway, bake at 400º for 20 minutes or so. Serve piping hot.


Enjoy!





Based on a couple of recipes.

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