If you are short of time and low on cash as well as ideas, then these wonderfully versatile pastries are the magical answer you are looking for and they can come in any shape, size or flavour you are in the mood to create.

Easy and fairly fast to make — you are sure to have something in the kitchen to stuff them with — your family and friends will be absolutely delighted with this delectable, mouth-watering, homemade treat.

Dough ingredients to make either six large or 12 small pastries

500 gm plain flour or chappati atta — or even wholemeal flour if preferred

A pinch of salt

A large spoonful of brown sugar if making sweet pastries

Warm water to mix

For the stuffing

Ideas for sweet stuffing include: mashed bananas or lightly stewed apples, pears, mangoes, strawberries, oranges, figs, plums, apricots, peaches or any other fruit which catches your imagination and don’t forget to ‘Mix ‘n Match’ if you like.

A quick fix recipe to be enjoyed any time of the day

Savoury stuffing can be conjured up from leftover salans mixed with a little rice or they can be purpose made with things such as Qeema cooked until it is almost dry, a dryish bindi and tomato salan, grated cheese with lots of finely chopped onion, finely chopped green onions with a hefty sprinkling of mint / coriander / oregano / basil or any other savoury mix you can dream up.

Whatever the stuffing, it should be on the dry side otherwise the dough gets too soggy during the cooking process and the pastries run the risk of falling in bits!

The amount of stuffing used can vary depending on whether you prefer nice fat pastries or a slimmer version.

Oil: enough olive oil or sunflower oil to shallow fry the pastries in.

Method

Put the flour in a largish mixing bowl, stir in the salt (or sugar if making sweet pastries) mix well and then slowly add just enough warm water to make a soft — but not sloppy — dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to stand, in a cool place, for about 30 minutes.

Next: break off a piece of dough — about the same size for making chappati or smaller if preferred — form it into a ball and then roll it out, on a lightly floured board / surface, until it is quite thin — again as if rolling out chappati. It can be rolled out into squares, circles, oblongs which should be large enough to be folded in half once stuffed and which — this is important — should not be too large to fit in the frying pan with ease!

Spread some of the selected filling on one half of the rolled out dough, leaving half an inch or so of space at the edges. Lightly dampen the edges of the dough with water, then fold it in half over the filling and seal by nipping the edges together.

Pierce the shaped and sealed pastry on top with a fork, making sure that enough holes are made to allow steam to escape but not so many that the filling oozes out during the cooking process.

Once all of the pastries have been formed, pour enough oil in a deepish frying pan so that it is just deep enough to fry them in — a quarter of an inch deep is plenty — but do not be so generous with the oil that it covers them as this is not the idea.

Put the frying pan on a medium heat until the oil is hot but not spitting — this only takes a couple of minutes.

Carefully slide two large or four small pastries into the hot oil and fry them until they are nicely browned, turning them over as needed and repeat until all the pastries are cooked: they cook amazingly fast.

After removing them from the frying pan, wrap in an absorbent cloth / towel to both remove any excess oil and to keep them warm if they are to be served hot.

Serve exactly as they are or, if sweet pastries, then with cream, ice-cream or custard if liked or with a chutney or tomato based sauce if savoury ones.

These pastries are ideal — be they of the sweet or savoury variety — to serve up as dinner party snacks, as an anytime treat and, as they are equally delicious hot or cold, they are great for packed lunches and picnics too.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 13th, 2015

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