You can make the jerk sauce as spicy as you like depending on what chillies you go for and if you keep the seeds in or not!
– makes 20 small pasties
Pasty Dough
400g Plain Flour
115g Butter, Cold & Cubed
115g Lard, Cold & Cubed
1 Egg Yolk (keep the white to seal the empanadas later)
8-10 tbsp Warm Milk
½ tsp Salt
Jerk Chicken Filling
Jerk Sauce:
1-2 jalapeño chillies or scotch bonnet – seeds in if you like things spicy!
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp ground allspice
4 garlic cloves
Large bunch spring onions
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 lime juiced
1 orange juiced
100ml white wine vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 large chicken breasts
4-5 spring onions
Red pepper
Small tin of pineapple in natural juice
Method
If possible, make the jerk chicken filling the night before, so that it has a chance to marinade overnight. Make the marinade first by blending all the jerk sauce ingredients together until smooth. Chop the chicken up into small 1cm pieces and do the same with the pineapple, pepper and spring onions. Place the Jerk sauce in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer then add the chicken and cook for 5-8 minutes. Add in the pepper and spring onions and simmer for another 2-3 minutes then take the saucepan off the heat and add in the pineapple. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool before covering with cling film and leaving to cool completely in the fridge, preferably overnight.
To make the dough by hand, place the flour and salt into a large bowl and rub in the butter and lard until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg yolk and using a fork or a knife, stir it into the mix. Spoon in the milk a little at a time until the dough starts to clump together and forms a ball.
To make the dough in a food processor, pulse the flour and salt a couple of times until evenly distributed. Next add in the butter and lard and pulse until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg yolk along with enough milk – add this gradually, until the dough clumps together and forms a ball of dough. Tip the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a little to bring the dough together, then wrap in cling film and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/180C Fan/200C and line a baking sheet with some grease-proof paper/baking parchment.
To assemble the pasties, roll half of the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it’s around 3-4mm thick. Using a small plate or a cutter measuring around 3 ½”/4”, cut out rounds of dough, collecting any scraps to roll out again later. Spoon some of the filling into the middle of the dough rounds – don’t be tempted to over fill, otherwise you won’t be able to seal the empanadas!
Brush a little egg white around the edges of the dough and fold the dough over so that it now looks like a half moon. Seal the edges with your fingers and then make a pattern with a fork; this also ensures that the pasties are properly sealed. Place on your prepared baking sheet. Use up all of the dough; there will be some filling left – but keep this as it makes a tasty meal with some rice. Brush a little beaten egg onto each pasty and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve warm.
Top Tips
- The sauce makes an excellent marinade for the BBQ.
- The filling and dough can be made ahead of time and frozen, just defrost overnight in the fridge when you want to make the pasties.
- You can of course use up any leftover chicken and some pork would taste amazing in this recipe too.
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