Levi Roots' vegetable patties recipe

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We've got Levi Roots' delicious vegetable patties recipe from his new show, Caribbean Food Made Easy. Find more Caribbean recipes from Levi Roots at goodtoknow.co.uk

  • Vegetarian
Makes6–8
Total Time1 hours 20 mins (includes 30 mins chilling time)
Cost RangeNot

We've got Levi Roots' Jamaican patties from episode 3 of the BBC2 programme Caribbean Food Made Easy. They're packed with healthy vegetables and the kids will love them

Ingredients

  • 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into 1cm (½in) dice
  • 150g (5 ½oz) carrots, cut into 1cm (½in) dice
  • 300g (10 ½oz) butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 1cm (½in) dice
  • 4tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
  • 4 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 200g can sweetcorn, drained
  • 100g (3 ½oz) orange cheese (such as Double Gloucester), grated
  • 2-4 tsp salt

For the patty pastry:

  • 225g (8oz) plain flour
  • 1 ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • Pinch of salt
  • 115g (4oz) cold butter, cut into small cubes
  • ½ egg, lightly beaten, to glaze

WEIGHT CONVERTER

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Method

  1. Put the flour, turmeric and salt in a bowl and rub in the butter. Add 4-5 tbsp water and mix. Roll into a ball and chill for 30 mins.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200ºC, 400ºF or gas 6.
  3. Put the pepper, carrots and squash in a saucepan with a small amount of just-boiled water. Cover and cook for 4 mins. Drain, put in a bowl and mix with all the other ingredients, except the pastry and beaten egg. Leave to cool completely.
  4. Cut the pastry into 6 or 8 pieces, depending on whether you want larger or smaller patties. Roll the first piece out into a large circle, with the pastry about ½cm thick. Put an eighth of the filling (or a sixth, if making 6 patties) on one side of the pastry, leaving about 1cm around the edge. Brush the edge with some of the egg glaze. Fold the other half of the pastry circle over the filled half and press the edges together to seal, using a fork to crimp the edges.
  5. Brush the patties with the remaining beaten egg glaze, place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper and cook in the oven for 25 mins or until nice and golden on the outside as well as on the inside.
Levi Roots
Celebrity chef and entrepreneur

Levi Roots is a Jamaican-born chef and the inventor of the famous homemade BBQ sauce 'Reggae Reggae Sauce' seen in your local supermarket. Levi began his food journey in a tiny little village called Clarendon in Jamaica with his grandmother. He enjoyed helping her in the kitchen and believes she taught him the secrets of how to perfectly mix Caribbean flavours, herbs and spices all together as well as discovering his love for music when attending his grandmothers church. With his parents working in the Brixton, so they could bring their six children over to the UK, Levi finally was the last to move to London in 1970. By 1991, Levi had seven children and lived in Brixton, where he created his famous sauce and decided to create a stall called the 'Rasta'raunt' at Notting Hill Carnival, which combined Jamaican music and the food he was cooking together using his delicious Reggae Reggae sauce. After years of trying to launch the product, Levi was spotted by a researcher from the BBC and was asked to appear on Dragon's Den. Despite trepidation, the sauce was an instant hit to dragons and Levi gave 40% of his business to Dragons Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh for £50,000 investment. By 2007, the sauce had hit the shelves across the country and it is now an essential item in many peoples cupboards. It truly is one of a kind and can be used in many different ways from marinading your chicken with it, to splashing it on top of a delicious rice dish, we've got some of our favourite recipes from the man himself for you to try.