Veggie Patties are a classic Sri Lankan finger food (or ‘short eat’) for any occasion. Growing up, they’d always make an appearance for birthday parties or if we had people over for dinner. Although Sri Lankan Veggie Patties are meant to be a starter or snack – on many an occasion I’ve had them as a main meal with some salad. They’re just too damn good to fight the temptation to demolish a whole tray of them!
My Sri Lankan Veggie Patties recipe uses sweet potatoes as I think they add a richer flavour mixed with the spices and peas. Traditionally however you’d use white potatoes so this is an option too. Serve them up with some Fresh Coriander Chutney or tomato sauce. Patties freeze well so are great for batch cooking to have to hand for later. Just defrost and then reheat them in the oven until heated through.
Ingredients
- 100g plain flour
- 150g chapati/wholemeal flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 50g margarine/butter
- cold water
- 500g Sweet Potatoes
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- Boiling water
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 green chillies, finely sliced
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 200g frozen green peas
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Mix the flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Use your fingers to rub the margarine in to form a crumbly mixture.
- Add about 2 tbsp of cold water at a time; kneading it in to the mixture until you form a smooth elastic dough.
- Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to the side.
- Peel and cut the sweet potatoes in to 1-2 inch cubes. Add to a saucepan with the tumeric, 1 tsp of salt and enough boiling water to cover.
- Boil until soft for 10-15 minutes with a lid on (you don't want it getting too mushy!) Drain once cooked.
- Heat the coconut oil in another pan.
- Fry the cumin seeds for around 30 seconds. Then cook the onions for a few minutes until brown before adding the minced garlic and chillies.
- Mix in the cooked sweet potatoes, frozen peas, ground spices and salt to taste.
- Cook for about 5 minutes; stirring and slight mashing the the mixture together. Turn off and leave to the side to cool.
- Preheat your oven to 200°C
- Roll out the dough around 3-5mm thick then cut out circles with a pastry cutter or glass (around 8cm wide).
- Add a heaped teaspoon of the sweet potato filling into the centre of each circle and fold the dough over it in half.
- Press the edges together. You can use a fork to create a pattern along the edge too.
- Repeat this until all the dough and filling is used up.
- Bake for around 15 minutes until cooked through.
If you like this recipe you may also like my Vegetable Pakora.
