No party in Sri Lanka is a success without short eats – finger food/ hors doeuvres. These little moon shaped patties are delicious and sooo easy to make its unbelievable. Paul usually serves them with a chili sauce or a mint and yoghurt chutney as a dipping sauce. YUM.

Fish Patties

Ingredients
500gms fish boiled in a stock of your choosing, flaked
125gms onions, chopped fine
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped roughly (optional)
a pinch of powdered dry chillies or chilli powder
a sprig of curry leaves, chopped fine
½ a lime, juiced
a pinch of pepper and salt
vegetable oil
short crust pastry, make your own or buy prepared sheets

Method
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. When hot, add the chopped onions and sauté till they are softened. Add the curry leaves and sauté for a couple of minutes more. Add the flaked fish, chilli, eggs, lime juice, pepper and salt and mix well. Add a couple of tablespoons of the fish stock and gently sauté till as much of the moisture has evaporated as possible without scorching the mix. Remove from the heat.

If you’ve made your own short crust pastry roll it out in a sheet thin enough to hold the pattie mixture without tearing. If using prepared sheets make sure they have defrosted enough to be nice and pliable.

Cut rounds of pastry using a cookie cutter or similar, about 8cms in diameter is good.

Place a small mound of the pattie mix in the centre of a round and fold the pastry over into a semicircle, sealing the edges with a finger dipped in water, and then crimping them with a fork.
To finish you can deep fry them in vegetable oil or bake in an oven.