Flaky beef pie- using puff pastry

As much as I love sweet pastries, there will be days that I crave savoury pastries as well. The only downside is that the amount of work that goes into making the pastries often means that I usually buy or avoid making it all together. However, this flaky beef pie is so delicious and made with store bought puff pastry. I also made this into individual pies so it’s easier to cook and eat.

This crispy beef pie is an adaptation of Chinese flaky scallion beef pie from Xi’an. Typically you would need to make the dough and oil mixture to make the layers flaky and slightly crispy. However, I’m lazy so I’m taking a shortcut to making the dough with ready made puff pastry and instead of frying it oil. I’m also using air fryer or the oven instead of pan frying in oil.

What is Flaky beef pie?

Flaky beef pie is a traditional Xi’an pastry. If you are not familiar with Xi’an, it’s where the terracotta army is located. It is also 1 of the 4 ancient great capital city of China until Ming dynasty when the capital city was moved to Beijing. This crispy pie has history dating back to the Tang dynasty in the imperial palace. It’s also called thousand layer beef pie due the uniqueness of rolling the dough around the ground beef.

The method of making the crispy layer is by rolling the pastry oblong shape, then adding oil flour mixture onto the dough. Then ground beef is added, then the dough is rolled encasing the beef mixture. At the same time, you stretch the dough as you roll. Then it’s flatten into a pancake. This creates the multiple layers. To cook, you would pan fry it in a shallow pan with lots of oil.

The beef is usually made from tenderloin and seasoned with salt, pepper and some Sichuan peppercorn. Then a lot of scallions are added for additional flavours.

My version of thousand layers beef pie

While I have made crispy beef pie the traditional way, it is time consuming. Thus, I’ve decided to cheat a bit and use a premade pastry to make this.

I also decided to use air fryer instead of frying it because as much as I like fried food, I don’t like cleaning up. Air fryer is so much easier to clean and work with. Since we are using a premade puff pastry, it will give me relatively similar texture. The only difference is that it won’t be as crispy like it would when fried in oil but still very delicious!

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 tsp of ground black pepper
• 6 tbsp of oil
• 1 1/3 cup of chopped green onions

Pastry

• 1 pack of puff pastry

How to make Flaky beef pie

1. Defrost the puff pastry slightly so it’s easier to work with.
2. Combine ground beef, salt, ground black pepper, ground Sichuan peppercorns and oil together
3. Chop your green onions and set aside
4. Roll the puff pastry into a long log, cut 1-1.5 inch thick.
5. Roll out the puff pastry into a round disc
6. Place ground beef mixture with a bit of scallion in the centre. I like to put a lot in.
7. Gently pull the sides towards the middle closing on the ground beef mixture. Make sure to seal the ground beef mixture in.
8. Flip the pie over so the smooth side is on top, press down slightly so it’s more flat.
9. Spray some oil in the air fryer basket, place the pie and spray a bit of the oil on top.
10. Air fry at 180oC/ 355oF for 30 minutes, flip halfway.

Pro-tip

• When adding the spices, add less and pan fry a bit of the beef mixture to see if you like the seasoning. It’s always easy to add more than to take away.
• If you find the green onions to be too pungent, include only the greens and save the whites to cook with other food next time
• If this is your first time trying to make these buns, you can reduce the amount of beef you put into each puff pastry to prevent tearing.
• A small tear is not an issue, don’t sweat it. In addition, you can pinch the area where you have the small tear
• If you are using an oven instead, preheat to 375^oF and bake for 25-30 minutes, flip half way.

Flaky Beef Pie

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Prep Time:15 minutes mins

Cook Time:30 minutes mins

Total Time:45 minutes mins

Servings: 16

Ingredients

Beef filling

• 1 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 6 tbsp oil
• 1 1/3 cup chopped green onions

Pastry

• 1 pack unrolled frozen puff pastry

Instructions

• Defrost the puff pastry slightly so it’s easier to work with.
• Combine ground beef, salt, ground black pepper, ground Sichuan peppercorns and oil together
• Chop your green onions and set aside
• Roll the puff pastry into a long log, cut 1-1.5 inch thick
• Roll out the puff pastry into a round disc
• Place ground beef mixture with a bit of scallion in the centre. I like to put a lot in.
• Gently pull the sides towards the middle closing on the ground beef mixture. Make sure to seal the ground beef mixture in.
• Flip the pie over so the smooth side is on top, press down slightly so it’s more flat.
• Spray some oil in the air fryer basket, place the pie and spray a bit of the oil on top.
• Air fry at 180℃/ 355℉ for 30 minutes, flip halfway.

Notes

If using oven, do 375℉ for 25-30 minutes, flip halfway