Spicy Beef and Rice Wraps

I’ve been exploring lately on puff pastries and I don’t know where I went wrong on my last try, the puff pastry just didn’t puff!!! None the less, this time I made it right. I finally found the tricks, or maybe it’s just my oven. After baking for about 10 minutes at gas 10 (around 270 degrees C ), put on the grill for 2 minutes and the pastry just puffed in few seconds!

Why I’m using ready made pastry? Simply because they are easily available and very convenient to use and besides, I haven’t succeeded making my own puff pastry. I’ll have to work on that yet.

I have an extra puff pastry which is thawed and I hate throwing things just like that, instead of serving the leftover vegetable fried rice last night with the wraps, I used the rice as a filling as well. They look good, but I know its carb overload but what the heck! That makes a quick lunch for us!

Anyway, here’s how I did it.

Ingredients:

2 sheets Puff pastry (ready made)
1 pcc. Slightly beaten egg

Filling:
200 g Beef (Sliced thinly in strips)
1 pc Carrot (Sliced thinly in strips)
1 pc Red Bell Pepper or capsicum (Sliced thinly in strips)
1 tsp. Oil

Seasonings: a dash of the following:
Cinnamon powder
Chili powder
Cumin powder
Paprika powder
Ground black and white pepper
Salt

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 270 degrees C. (Gas 8)

Prepare the filling:
Season the beef with a dash of all the seasonings and rub or massage them to the beef to mix the flavors.


Spicy Beef filling


Heat a nonstick pan, add oil and add beef piece by piece until beef becomes a little firm, keep them moving they randomly turn over to cook the other side. This way, the beef stays in long strips, not curled up. If you put them all together in one go, the beef would curl up. As soon as the sides of the beef are charred or have turned dark brown, they are done. Add the carrot and bell pepper/capsicum and stir with the beef. Cook another minute and the filling is done. Transfer the cooked filling in a plate to cool down in room temperature.

Assemble the wraps:
It is important not to put the filling when its still hot, otherwise the puff pastry will turn soggy. Another tip is do not thaw completely the puff pastry, it is better to thaw them in the fridge and keep it cool until ready to use.

Divide the sheet into 4 equal squares. Place the filling in each square and seal the pastry on opposite sides and brush with beaten egg.


Divide the sheet of puff pastry into 4 squares


Place the filling at the center of the square and seal with egg wash


Bake for 10 minutes on high temperature and on the last minute, put on the grill until brown.