Spicy lamb keema pasties

"Keema is a dish from the sub-continent often made with mutton. It can be served on rice, in samosas, and you’ll also find it served in buns on highways in India. I’ve added more vegetables to the mix here, which makes for a great pastie filling. If you don’t have time to make your own pastry, these are equally delicious made using store-bought filo (see Note)." Matthew Evans, For the Love of Meat

Credit: Alan Benson

• serves

  4

• prep

  1 hour

• cook

  1:30 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 green chillies, seeded and finely chopped
• 320 g lamb mince
• 1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 150 g peas
• 1 large potato, peeled and finely diced
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 80 g butter
• 1 egg, beaten

Pastry

• 500 g (3 ⅓ cups) plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 125 g cold butter, diced
• 125 g cold lard, diced
• 150 ml chilled water 

Chilling time 30 minutes

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over low-medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and allow to sizzle for a few seconds, then add the onion and chilli and stir until the onion is soft and just starting to colour.  Increase the heat to high, add the lamb mince and cook until the lamb is golden brown. Stir in the vegetables, spices and salt, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, to make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then using your fingertips, rub in the butter and lard until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Pour in the chilled water a little at a time, combining until the dough comes together. Turn the dough onto a work surface and shape into a ball. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface until about 5-mm thick. Using a 20 cm round plate as a template, cut out four circles. Brush the edges with a little water and place a quarter of the filling on one half each of the circles, then top each with one tablespoon butter. Fold each pastry circle in half and crimp the edges together to seal well. 

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush with beaten egg. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Note

• If using filo, brush each layer of filo with butter and, rather than cut out circles, cut the filo pieces in half diagonally to make smaller triangles.

Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Vanessa Austin. Food preparation by Alex Herbert.

For The Love of Meat with Matthew Evans starts Thursday 20 October at 7.30pm on SBS and then on SBS On Demand.  Visit the program page for show information, related articles and more recipes. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.