When I worked in Boston, I used to get this REALLY tasty barbecue beef sammich on sweet Jamaican bread from a food truck that would come by the medical center every now and again, so when I came across this recipe on bigoven.com, I had to give it a try.
It’s not at all like that fondly remembered sammich, but it is quite tasty, and the fact that I got 10 pies out of one batch more than made up for the time it took to put it all together; grab a cuppa coffee and pull up a comfy chair, this is a long recipe.
INGREDIENTS
Dough:
•2 cups flour, plus more, if needed
•2 tsp sugar
•1 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1 tsp baking powder
•1/2 tsp turmeric
•1 large egg
•3 tbsp unsalted, room temperature, butter
•2/3 cup water
Filling:
•Olive oil
•1 large yellow onion (2 cups) diced
•1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 hot banana peppers, diced
•2 cups green cabbage, shredded
•1 tbsp Madras curry powder
•1 tsp dried thyme
•1 tsp Tellicherry pepper
•1 tsp sugar
•1-1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1 lb ground turkey
•1 cup vegetable broth
•1/2 cup Panko crumbs
For the dough:
Place the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and turmeric in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse to combine.
Whisk the egg together with the water and, with the processor running, pour slowly into the flour mixture through the feed tube and process until the dough begins to come together – about 10 seconds.
Add the butter to the dough and process for another 5 or 10 seconds until the dough is soft, but not sticky. If your dough is sticky (mine was) add flour, a tablespoon at a time, and pulse until it isn’t. This batch took an additional 3 tablespoons of flour to come together the way I thought it should.
Turn the dough out onto a floured (or wax paper lined) board and knead a bit, then shape it into a ball, wrap it in the waxed paper, and stash it in the fridge for at least one hour.
Now, the filling:
Warm a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large on medium high heat, then add the onion, garlic, peppers, and cabbage and sauté for 3 minutes.
Add the ground turkey, curry powder, thyme, pepper, and sugar and cook, breaking up the turkey and stirring, for another 5 minutes or so, until the turkey is cooked through and any liquid in the pan is gone.
Add the cup of stock – I used veggie stock, but if you prefer, by all means use chicken or beef – bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 8 minutes.
Stir in the Panko crumbs and continue simmering for another 4 minutes.
Done, now, let’s make some pies!
Pull the dough from the fridge and roll out lightly on a wax paper lined board, then divide into twelve pieces.
Roll each piece out into a rough circle – OK, mine came out more like rounded corner squares – on a floured board and add about a cup of the turkey mixture in the bottom half of the dough, leaving about a one inch margin.
Heat oven to 400º.
Moisten your finger with a bit of water and dab it around the edges of the dough, then pull the top over the filling and press the edges together with the tines of a fork.
Transfer the pie to a buttered baking sheet, OR, more better, I think, to a wire rack fitted into a baking sheet.
Cover with a kitchen towel and continue making pies, tucking each under the kitchen towel on the baking sheet as they are done to keep the dough from drying out.
I had enough filling for 10 pies, which makes me wonder about the original recipe, which did not have any cabbage at all, but que sera.
When all the pies are formed, you can brush them with a bit of melted butter if you like (I didn’t), then bake them for 20 minutes, until they are lightly browned (tho’ still brightly yellow).
Serve at once, or cool in the fridge, then stash in the freezer as a quick lunch fix.
Serve with your favorite hot sauce – I like Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce for these.