Sri Lankan Fish Patties (Curried Fish Empanadas)

Patties Dough (Empanada Dough)

1. Place the flour, salt, baking powder together in a bowl. Whisk to combine well.
2. Add the butter and rub it into the flour using your fingers (or in a food processor), until the flour-butter mix resembles coarse crumbs (or wet coarse sand).
3. If you used a food processor to mix the butter and flour, transfer the flour-butter mix back into a large bowl.
4. Mix ¼ cup of the ice water with the vinegar and egg yolk. Whisk to combine.
5. Make a well in the middle of the flour mix. Add the water-yolk mix and use a fork or your fingers to distribute the liquid through the flour. When the liquid has been distributed, you will have to use your hands to knead the dough to form a dough ball.
6. If the dough is too dry, add iced water 1 tbsp at a time (or less), up to 2 tbsp. The dough should come together to make a pliable dough that's not sticky. If it still seems too dry, dip only your fingers in the ice water and without shaking off any excess water, knead the dough with your wet hands.
7. Form a disc with the pastry dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. If you make the dough the day before and the dough is too chilled, let the dough soften slightly at room temperature.

Curried Fish Filling

1. Make sure the canned fish has been drained and the bones removed. If you're using cooked fresh fish, make sure the fish has been de-boned as well.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil or coconut oil in a large non-stick pan over medium high heat.
3. Add the finely chopped onion and saute for a few minutes until they have softened. Add the garlic, ginger and saute for a further 30 seconds until softened.
4. Add the curry powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper. Mix through the onions.
5. Add the fish and mix it with the onion-spice mix. Break the fish into smaller pieces and saute the mix until it's dry, and takes on the color of the spices, about 10 - 15 minutes. Do not allow the mix to burn (reduce the heat if necessary). Add the tomato ketchup and green chili peppers (serrano peppers) and mix through and cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes.
6. Season with salt if needed (remember you are using brined mackerel, and may not need a lot of salt).
7. Mash the potatoes slightly (with some small whole pieces left intact), and add this to the fish mix. Mix well. Sprinkle the lime juice over the fish and potatoes and mix well. Season and add more lime juice and salt if necessary.
8. Let the mix cool down.

Assembly

1. Roll out the cool patties dough on a lightly floured smooth surface. Roll out until the dough is about 3 mm thick. To ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the surface, lightly dust the surface and flip the dough over half way through rolling. This will help prevent shrinking of the dough and it'll roll out better too. Make sure the rolled out dough isn’t sticking to the surface before cutting the patties dough wrappers as well.
2. Cut 3 - 3.5 inch diameter circles using a pastry cutter. Set these aside in one layer and cover with plastic wrap. Re-roll the scraps and cut more pastry circles. You should get approximately 15 - 17 wrappers.
3. Take one dough wrapper, and with your fingers, flatten it out slightly at the edges to create a slightly bigger circle (especially if the wrappers shrink a little).
4. Take a spoonful of the fish filling and form a ball that's about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Place this in the middle of the wrapper.
5. Apply water along the edge of one half of the wrapper. Carefully fold over the other half of the wrapper over the filling toward the moistened edge and press down to seal. Use your fingers to form a seal along the edge, and then use a fork to crimp the edges.
6. Transfer the patties to a plate and cover with a plastic wrap. Repeat with the rest of the wrappers.

To Fry

1. Heat enough oil to deep fry the fish patties (about 3 - 4 inches), or to shallow fry (about 1 ½ - 2 inches).
2. Once the oil is heated to 350°F / 180°C, fry the patties in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pan.
3. The patties should fry for about 2 minutes until they turn golden brown in the center and slightly darker at the edges (about 1 minute per side if shallow frying). If you are frying the patties from frozen, they need to deep fry for about 3 - 4 minutes until they turn golden brown in the center and slightly darker at the edges.
4. Place the fried patties on paper towels to drain the excess oil.
5. Serve while warm or at room temperature with tomato ketchup or chili sauce. Enjoy!